21 arrested as hundreds of Trump supporters and counter-protesters clash at Berkeley rally, by Paige St. John.

Hundreds of pro-Trump demonstrators and counter-protesters clashed Saturday at a “Patriots Day” rally in Berkeley, the third time the groups engaged in violent confrontations on city streets in recent months.

Fistfights broke out near Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, where Trump supporters had scheduled a rally. Fireworks and smoke bombs were thrown into the crowd, and a few demonstrators were doused with pepper spray.

Both groups threw rocks and sticks at each other and used a large trash bin as a battering ram as the crowd moved around the perimeter of the park. One bank boarded up its ATMs before the rally as a precaution. …

Eleven people were injured with at least six taken to a hospital for treatment, including one stabbing victim.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, said he came from Montana with about 50 others to protect Trump supporters. They were joined by bikers and others who vowed to fight members of an anti-fascist group if they crossed police barricades. …

The rally, one of many held across the country, was sponsored by the pro-Trump group Liberty Revival Alliance.

The predictable reaction to leftist “antifa” thugs and the failure of police and authorities to protect peaceable right-wing audiences or protestors: the right is forced to muscle up.

hat-tip Scott of the Pacific