Five Ku Klux Klan members who were arrested following a vicious brawl in Anaheim were released because evidence shows they acted in self-defense, police said. 
 
 Seven people who remained in custody were seen beating, stomping and attacking the Klansmen with wooden posts, Sgt. Daron Wyatt said Sunday. 
 
 A police statement said the clash, which erupted after six Klan members arrived at a park Saturday for an anti-immigration rally, was started by a group of 10 to 20 counter-protesters who had "the intent of perpetrating violence." 
 
 In witness video, protesters are seen surrounding a KKK member as protesters gathered at a KKK rally in Anaheim, Calif. Feb. 28, 2016. (AP) In witness video, protesters are seen surrounding a KKK member as protesters gathered at a KKK rally in Anaheim, Calif. Feb. 28, 2016. (AP) SEE MORE VIDEOS 
 
 Police said the Klansmen stabbed three counter-protesters with knives and the decorative end of a flag pole. 
 
 "Regardless of an individual or groups' beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked," the statement said. 
 
 Mayhem ensued Saturday as soon as the Klan members pulled up in a black SUV and pulled out signs reading "White Lives Matter." Dozens of protesters swarmed in and someone smashed a window. The SUV then sped away, leaving three Klansmen outnumbered. 
 
 "(The counter-protesters) were so angry, they would have torn these folks limb from limb," said Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "I was afraid for their lives." 
 
 Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times A Ku Klux Klansman, left, struggles with a protester for an American flag after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday. Three people were treated at the scene for stab wounds, and 13 people were arrested. A Ku Klux Klansman, left, struggles with a protester for an American flag after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday. Three people were treated at the scene for stab wounds, and 13 people were arrested. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 
 
 Levin, who went to Pearson Park expecting to record the rally for research, found himself protecting the Klansmen until police could intervene. On a video Levin shot and posted to Twitter, he later asked one of them, "How do you feel that a Jewish person helped save your life today?" 
 
 "I thank you. I thank you," said the Klansman, waving away the question with his blood-spattered arm. 
 
 Anaheim is known for pushing back against the Klan in 1924 when its members gained four of five City Council seats. Those Klansmen were ousted in a recall election after their Klan affiliation became public and following a nighttime KKK initiation rally that attracted an estimated 10,000 people to the same city park where Saturday's violence erupted. 
 
 "The only reason we remember Anaheim for the Klan is because they fought the Klan so hard," said Phil Brigandi, an Orange County historian and author. 
 
 In the near century since then, Anaheim has gone from 95 percent white to become 53 percent Hispanic and 27 percent white, according to census data. 
 
 "We're a far cry from those terrible times and the Klan is really an anachronism," Levin said. 
 
 When the melee started, Levin said he saw no uniformed officers. Wyatt said police were there and engaged with people at one end of the fight, and called for additional resources to deploy to the other end. The event stretched along a city block, he said. 
 
 Police Chief Raul Quezada said his officers were able to respond quickly enough to arrest all but one of the main participants, a counter-protester who remains at-large. 
 
 The Klan members were booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon before being released. The seven people who remained in custody were booked for assault with a deadly weapon or elder abuse for stomping on a Klan member who's older than 65 years old, Wyatt said. 
 
 Though the Klan members were released, prosecutors will review the case and decide whether to file criminal charges, he said. 
 
 Chris Barker, who identified himself as the imperial wizard of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, told The Associated Press by phone from North Carolina that his members were holding a peaceful anti-immigration demonstration and acted in self-defense. 
 
 "If we're attacked, we will attack back," said Barker, whose organization lists Pelham, N.C., as its headquarters. 
 
 Nationwide, the number of active KKK groups increased to 190 in 2015 after falling in 2013 and 2014, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. 
 
 Associated Press ||||| Five KKK members are released in the investigation into a brawl at an Anaheim rally. Rick Montanez reports for Today in LA on Monday Feb. 29, 2016. (Published Monday, Feb. 29, 2016) 
 
 After a violent brawl broke out at an Orange County park between KKK members and counter-protesters, Anaheim police released the Klan members Sunday, saying evidence supports they acted in self-defense. 
 
 Five of the 12 originally arrested were released Sunday afternoon after detectives said they pored over videos, photos and witness interviews. The Anaheim Police Department said the KKK members were released because "the images and statements corroborate witness statements that they were acting in self-defense." 
 
 About 10 to 20 people were involved in the incidents that resulted in three people getting stabbed. One KKK member was behind all three stabbings, according to Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt. 
 
 "Regardless of an individual or groups’ beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked," Anaheim police said in a statement. 
 
 3 Stabbed at KKK March, 12 Arrested in Orange County 
 
 Thirteen were arrested and three stabbed when groups clash at an Orange County KKK march. Rick Montanez reports for the NBC4 News at 8 on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (Published Monday, Feb. 29, 2016) 
 
 Klan members were booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon before being released. The seven people who remained in custody were booked for assault with a deadly weapon or elder abuse for stomping on a Klan member who's older than 65 years old, police said. 
 
 Police said 51-year-old Charles Edward Donner of San Francisco, 20-year-old Marquis DeShawn Turner of Anaheim, 25-year-old Randy Omarcc Felder of Lakewood and 19-year-old Guy Harris, a homeless man, were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. They were being held on $25,000 bail. 
 
 Hugo Contreras, 38, of Hawthorne; Nicole Rae Schop, 24, and Mark Anthony Liddell, 26, both of Los Angeles, face charges of elder abuse and were being held on $50,000 bail, police said. 
 
 Though the Klan members were released, prosecutors will review the case and decide whether to file criminal charges, authorities said. 
 
 The brawl broke out about 11 a.m. near the site of an planned afternoon rally at Pearson Park located in the 400 block of North Harbor Boulevard, according to Wyatt. Police had said Friday that the department was aware of a KKK "walking protest" planned at the park for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and that the group had held similar rallies before in Orange County. 
 
 "(The counter-protesters) were so angry, they would have torn these folks limb from limb," said Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "I was afraid for their lives." 
 
 Levin, who went to Pearson Park expecting to record the rally for research, found himself protecting the Klansmen until police could intervene. On a video Levin shot and posted to Twitter, he later asked one of them, "How do you feel that a Jewish person helped save your life today?" 
 
 A Klansman stabbed a counter-protester in the chest with an eagle figure at the end of the flag, according to Wyatt. The protester was transported to a hospital in critical condition. 
 
 "As stated previously, I implore everyone to respond with peace and dignity, regardless of where your support lies," Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada said in a statement. "We have a unique opportunity to bond together as OUR Anaheim community." 
 
 Rosa Madrigal, a 25-year-old mother who was at the park Sunday with her husband and three children, told The Associated Press she was shocked to even hear about the KKK holding a rally in Anaheim, let alone the violence that ensued. 
 
 "I didn't even think it was true when I heard it," Madrigal said. "It's crazy, especially in a park where you take your kids." 
 
 Nationwide, the number of active KKK groups increased to 190 in 2015 after falling in 2013 and 2014, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. In January 2015, packets containing fliers from the "Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" and condemning the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were left in the driveways of about 40 homes in Santa Ana, about 8 miles south of Anaheim. 
 
 California has 68 hate groups identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center, second only to Texas' 84. 
 
 NBC4's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report. 
 
 Copyright Associated Press / NBC Southern California ||||| At a KKK rally in Anaheim, Calif., one KKK member stabbed a counter-protester with the decorative end of a flag pole, setting off a vicious brawl where three people were stabbed, one critically, and two were assaulted. (Reuters) 
 
 In 1924, the Ku Klux Klan quietly took control of Anaheim, Calif. 
 
 As historian Shawn Lay details in “The Invisible Empire in the West,” the Klan membership roster in Orange County was 1,280 names-strong, and it was in that same year that four of five City Council seats were occupied by Klansmen. No one had taken issue with this during the election, as the candidates were well-known and could not be definitively tied to the Klan. 
 
 Still, Lay writes, the council’s “actions reflected the KKK’s specific and general objectives.” That summer, 10,000 Klansmen from across the state paraded through the city while a plane adorned by glowing crosses passed above. The rally ended at Anaheim City Park, where nearly 15,000 recruits were initiated into the order and celebrated with a fireworks display. 
 
 This onetime show of strength was but a faint memory at a KKK rally in Anaheim this Saturday, when a total of six Klan members arrived at a park to denounce “illegal immigration and Muslims,” according to the Los Angeles Times. 
 
 [Trump declines to assess white supremacy groups, including KKK, without first doing research] 
 
 The counter-protesters, by contrast, were several dozen in number. When the Klan members pulled up in an SUV wearing black outfits with Confederate flag patches, the protesters had already been peacefully gathered for hours. 
 
 Witnesses told Reuters and the Associated Press that the protesters began throwing sticks and other items when the KKK car appeared with signs that read “White Lives Matter.” 
 
 The encounter quickly descended into violence, as one Klan member was seen with a knife and another using the decorative end of a flag pole as a weapon. 
 
 One man could be heard screaming, “I got stabbed,” the AP reported, as he lifted up his T-shirt to reveal a spouting wound. A nearby fire hydrant was splattered with blood. 
 
 By the end, three people had been stabbed, one critically. All were believed to be counter-protesters. 
 
 
 
 Police officers investigate the scene near Pearson Park in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 27 after three counter-protesters were stabbed while clashing with KKK members staging a rally. (Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Five KKK members were initially arrested, but they were released on Sunday because police said they acted in self-defense. Seven counter-protesters remain in custody for allegedly beating, stomping and attacking the Klansmen with wooden posts. 
 
 At the start of the fight, three KKK members immediately fled back inside their SUV and drove off, witness Brian Levin told the Times. The remaining three were left to “fend for themselves,” said Levin, who directs Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and was interviewing Klansmen at the protest. 
 
 Levin said he pushed a ringleader of the Klan rally away from the crowd as counter-protesters approached. 
 
 “How do you feel that a Jewish guy just saved your life?” Levin asked, referring to himself. 
 
 To this, the man responded: “Thank you.” 
 
 Anaheim police have been criticized for their response, which left chaos in its wake. A crowd of 100 applauded as they watched the Klansmen being arrested. 
 
 Yet, without the authorities, Levin told the Times, the KKK members “would have been torn limb from limb.” Police said in a statement Saturday that they were aware of the planned rally and counter-protest and had assigned officers to the location. 
 
 “Even if the vast majority of our community disagrees with a particular group who visits our city we cannot stop them from lawfully gathering to express their opinions,” Police Chief Raul Quezada said in the statement. 
 
 Others present blamed the Klansmen for the brawl. Martin Buenorostro told the Times that his friend was the one who had been critically injured. 
 
 “They started pulling out weapons,” Buenorostro said. “One of them had the flag, the American flag, with the pointed top and I think that’s what got my friend. It’s a serious wound. It wasn’t like the blood was dripping out. It gushed out of him.” 
 
 The critically injured man is now in stable condition. 
 
 KKK membership has been on the decline for decades, falling from a peak of 4 million in 1925 to between 5,000 and 8,000 Klansmen today, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its rallies tend to attract more reporters and counter-protesters than Klansmen. 
 
 But one Republican presidential candidate may be turning the tide for latent white nationalists. 
 
 Rachel Pendergraft, a national organizer for a Ku Klux Klan subgroup known as the Knights Party, told The Washington Post that Donald Trump’s ascendance has opened “a door to conversation.” 
 
 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally in Fort Worth on Feb. 26. (LM Otero/AP) 
 
 “They like the overall momentum of his rallies and his campaign,” she said. “They like that he’s not willing to back down. He says what he believes and he stands on that.” 
 
 Trump, who has garnered support for such proposals as building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and barring all Muslims from entry, has made “the native tongue of disaffected whites” mainstream, The Post’s Peter Holley and Sarah Larimer wrote last week. 
 
 [How America’s dying white supremacist movement is seizing on Donald Trump’s appeal] 
 
 The former “Grand Wizard” of the KKK, David Duke, told his followers last week that voting for anyone other than Trump “is really treason to your heritage.” 
 
 The GOP candidate disavowed Duke’s semi-endorsement, but said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning that he would have to do more research before forming an opinion on white supremacist groups. 
 
 “You know, I know nothing about David Duke,” Trump said on the show. “I know nothing about white supremacists.” 
 
 More from Morning Mix 
 
 ‘Help! Brother has killed everyone’: Indian man fatally slashed 14 relatives at family gathering, police say ||||| Of the 12 arrested on Saturday, seven were booked at the Anaheim Detention Facility, according to a statement released by Anaheim Police. 
 
 Three people were stabbed, one with a flagpole, and 12 people were arrested during a brawl on Saturday morning between self-described Ku Klux Klan members and counter-protesters at an Anaheim park, police said. 
 
 Initially arrested were five Klan members – four men and a woman – and seven counter-protesters – five men, a male juvenile and a woman. Seven people were booked in the Anaheim jail on assault or abuse charges. Police are seeking one additional suspect who can be seen in a video of the altercation punching a Klansman. 
 
 “I’ve lived in Anaheim my whole life and I have never heard of anything like this,” said Anaheim resident Joe Castaneda, who saw the melee break out. 
 
 The confrontation occurred at around noon after a group of six KKK members showed up at Pearson Park, a witness said. Klan leaders earlier this week announced their intention to hold a rally there, and a group of about 30 counter-protesters were waiting for them. 
 
 One of the counter-protesters was stabbed with the decorative end of a flagpole, said Anaheim police Sgt. Daron Wyatt. An officer responding to the scene saw one of the Klansmen stab a counter-protester with a knife. The Klansman admitted to stabbing the man, but told the officers that it was self-defense, Wyatt said. 
 
 The counter-protesters and the Klansmen briefly had words before the fight began, Castaneda said. 
 
 He said the counter-protesters were telling the Klansmen that they weren’t welcome in the community and to get out. He couldn’t hear what the Klansmen were saying. 
 
 “Some words were exchanged and that is pretty much when the fight began,” Castaneda said. 
 
 The Klansmen were badly outnumbered, Castaneda said, forcing most of them to get back into a black SUV and try to flee. They left three Klansmen behind. 
 
 “It was just the three of them against a whole crowd,” Castaneda said. 
 
 At one point, Castaneda said, one of the Klansmen lunged at him with the flagpole, but backed away after Castaneda stepped back and showed the man a cane he uses to walk. 
 
 The men were wearing military type clothing, Castaneda said. “They were definitely dressed up (for) the occasion.” 
 
 The man stabbed by the flag pole was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Wyatt said, but his condition later improved. The second stabbing victim suffered lesser injuries. The extent of injuries for the third victim, found in a vehicle on Lemon Street, was not clear. All victims are expected to survive. 
 
 Warning: The following video contains graphic footage. 
 
 Anaheim police on Friday sent a Twitter message out telling the community that they were aware of the planned KKK rally. The message noted that several other rallies have occurred over the past few years, with a small group of Klansman passing out “literature” and holding signs. 
 
 Counter-protesters had been at the park since early Saturday morning awaiting the rally, according to a witness who had been there since 9 a.m. 
 
 “You could feel the pulsing energy. I know that people were watching the street to see when the Klansmen would show up,” said Melodye Shore of Laguna Niguel, who was observing the protest with a friend. “As soon as they saw that van, they were just all over it.” 
 
 She said police response was not immediate. 
 
 “I would think that they would be a physical presence, considering that they did know that there was a planned activity,” she said. “They should have been right there. But no, it took awhile. I had time to take a bunch of pictures before the police showed up.” 
 
 Anaheim Police said in a news release they had a contingent of officers dedicated to the event. “Those officers were on scene immediately as the violence erupted and called for additional personnel,” according to the statement. 
 
 On Saturday, most of the protesters were gone by mid-afternoon, with a group of about two-dozen park visitors remaining to watch police go over the portion of Cypress Street where the conflict occurred. 
 
 The Klan once had a strong presence in Anaheim, and at the Pearson Park site. 
 
 On April 14, 1924, Anaheim voters elected four of five City Council members who secretly belonged to the Klan. 
 
 Many city workers resigned, but nine of Anaheim's 10 police officers supported the Klan – which held parades, painted the streets with K.I.G.Y. for “Klansmen I Greet You,” and stationed gunmen on buildings to shoot anyone dousing their burning crosses. 
 
 In August 1924, the Klan staged its largest rally ever in the state, drawing 10,000 people to what is now called Pearson Park. Within a year, however, on Feb. 3, 1925, more than 95 percent of the voters turned out to recall the Klansmen and reclaim their town. 
 
 Wyatt said police are seeking video footage of the melee. 
 
 "We know there were all kinds of people out here with video, and we need that," he said. 
 
 He asked witnesses to call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-847-6227. 
 
 Staff writer Samuel Mountjoy contributed to this report.
– A California Ku Klux Klan rally on Saturday ended with three anti-KKK protesters stabbed and five KKK members arrested. But Anaheim cops now say those five have been released after evidence shows they acted in self-defense, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The totality of the evidence, including videos, still pictures, and interviews, paints a pretty clear picture as to who the aggressors were," an Anaheim police sergeant says. The demonstration, which the Chicago Tribune says was meant to be an anti-immigration rally, turned violent from the get-go after six KKK members showed up around noon. Witnesses say some of the anti-protesters—who the Washington Post says numbered in the "several dozen"—started kicking a Klansman wearing a "Grand Dragon" shirt, and soon the stabbings began, including one by a KKK member using the decorative end of a flagpole. "[The counter-protesters] were so angry, they would have torn these folks limb from limb," Brian Levin, the director of Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, tells NBC Los Angeles. Levin, who was there to record the rally for research purposes, says he ended up shielding KKK members until police could get there. "I was afraid for their lives." Levin later posted on Twitter a video of him asking one of the KKK members: "How do you feel that a Jewish person helped save your life today?" (The Klansman thanked him.) "Regardless of an individual or group's beliefs or ideologies, they are entitled to live without the fear of physical violence and have the right, under the law, to defend themselves when attacked," a police statement read, per NBC. The seven counter-protesters who remain jailed are being held on charges of assault with a deadly weapon or elder abuse for attacking a Klan member older than 65. The three people stabbed were in stable condition at a local hospital.