White nationalists whose rally over the weekend in Sacramento turned violent are planning to go to Cleveland during at the Republican National Convention to support Donald Trump's backers, according to a report.
“We’re essentially just going to show up and make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended from the leftist thugs,” Traditionalist Worker Party spokesman Matt Parrott told McClatchy News .
A bloody brawl erupted over the weekend at the California Capitol as the white nationalist group and skinheads clashed with counter-protesters wielding signs reading "Nazi scum."
Seven people were stabbed, nine were hospitalized and others injured, authorities said .
Parrott has blamed the anti-fascists for the riot, but told McClatchy he expected high security at Cleveland would prevent violence.
“You’re going to have a relatively civil event where you’re going to have the leftists protesting Trump and you’re going to have us arguing up against the leftists,” he told McClatchy . “And you’re going to have the police there ensuring that you’re going to have a first-world situation and not some sort of ‘Gangs of New York’ knife fight.”
The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
GOP convention officials said Wednesday that law enforcement officials knew of the group's plans and were preparing for the convention.
Experts who monitor extremist groups called those involved in the Sacramento event part of a new era of white nationalism that merges older and new strains — a type of “intellectual racism” that has been common in such circles.