Federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against four men they accused of being white supremacists who traveled to political rallies to menace protesters.
The government said the four are members of the Rise Above Movement, headquartered in Southern California, and were part of the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as clashes in Huntington Beach, Berkeley and San Bernardino last year.
The movement members would turn up at the site of planned right-wing rallies, seek out counterprotesters then proceed to beat them. They also attacked journalists, the government says.
Charged were Robert Paul Rundo, whom police say was a founder of the movement, and Robert Boman, Tyler Laube and Aaron Eason. All but Mr. Eason are already in custody.
“Every American has a right to peacefully organize, march and protest in support of their beliefs — but no one has the right to violently assault their political opponents,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna.
The protests where the violence took place were all in 2017, though the FBI affidavit accompanying the charges says the men indicated plans for more violence in the future.
And they celebrated their past clashes.
On Twitter earlier this year the movement called itself “the only alt right crew that actually beats antifa senseless and wins rallies.”
The four men were charged in the Central District of California with using interstate commerce — in this case the internet — to incite or participate in riots.
Four other members of the Rise Above Movement were charged earlier this month in Virginia in connection with the Charlottesville clashes, which occurred in August 2017 and in which one counterprotester was killed in a car attack. Two state police troopers were also killed while monitoring the clashes when their helicopter crashed.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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