The KKK and NSM were met with fierce opposition during their rally outside of the South Carolina Statehouse on Saturday.
Protesters overwhelmed the hate groups in both numbers and voice and ultimately forced them to leave early and even caused one Klansman to crash his car.
The Loyal Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, based in North Carolina, and the National Socialist Movement organized the rally in response to the removal of the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds on July 10.
The flag was removed in response to the church shooting in Charleston carried out by white supremacist Dylann Roof. Roof has since been arrested and indicted.
At the same time as the KKK rally, the Black Educators for Justice, a Florida-based organization with ties to the New Black Panther Party, held a counter-rally also on Statehouse grounds.
Authorities estimated that over 2,000 people were in attendance, with only a small portion there to actually support the KKK rally. In the crowd, people from all walks of life could be seen.
Several white bikers stood with the Black Panthers holding signs that read "F--- NAZI SYMPATHY" and "TAKE A STAND SMASH THE KLAN." Another man in a tye-dye shirt blew bubbles and offered smiles to those that passed by. Several Christian activists passed out popsicles to help aid protesters with the heat, while others brought packs of water bottles.
Some took the water to drink, while others threw their bottles at the Klansmen while they were escorted to the Statehouse building by police.
USC marketing and business major Joe Cruz thought that the protesters offered a more accurate picture of his home state than the Confederate flag.
"I wanted to come out and just see [the rally]," Cruz said. "Obviously there's going to be a lot of anger and expression out here and I think, more powerful than the hate groups are all the regular people who came out here and are just in complete opposition. There are plenty of people protesting who are coming at it with the completely wrong tone, but I think it's more powerful to see everyone who came out here to promote love and community in whatever way they can."
However, Cruz also believes that despite the removal of the flag, not much has been accomplished in terms of addressing racism.
"A flag in itself is a representation of something, and I think taking down the flag was symbolic of some progress, but if people were as passionate about addressing the wage gap for example, as they were about lowering the flag, I think we'd see more progress," Cruz said. "I think it's a sign of what used to only be controversial is now unacceptable. I'm a South Carolina native, and it means a lot to me to see the progress and the power of people in my home state."
At first, most of the rally consisted of Klansmen shouting various phrases like "White power!" and saluting the protesters in Nazi style. Four of the Klansmen, dressed in military-styled uniforms bearing the logo of the Nazi SS, proceeded to hold up an Israeli flag before tearing it apart violently.
However, over the course of the rally, as the summer heat bore down on Columbia, things started to escalate.
One black man was detained and arrested by police for allegedly flashing gang signs and attempting to rush the police escort to get to the Klansmen.
Several of the Confederate flags being waved by Klansmen were stolen by protesters, who tore them to pieces, heralded by cheers from the crowd. Another group of protesters doused one of the flags in gas and proceeded to light it on fire.
One protester, who asked to remain anonymous due to his job, felt disappointed at the government's decision to remove the flag when they did.
"I was sort of out here to see what [the KKK's] agenda was going to be," the protester said. "A lot of people fly the flag for Southern heritage, but this act right here is pretty much exactly what people believe — that it's completely connected. I get the reason why they did it, but the timing of it in regards to the shooting, attached it permanently. They should've never rushed anything with such an angry public."
Ultimately, the authorities decided to end the rally an hour early and began escorting the Klansmen to their vehicles, parked in a garage near the Colonial Life Arena, after it became clear that the crowd would not be able to remain peaceful for much longer.
As the Klansmen exited the Statehouse grounds, the situation began to unravel even more.
By the time the Klansmen reached Assembly Street, only a thin line of police officers armed with assault rifles, shotguns and a tear gas grenade launcher, separated the few clad in Nazi gear from hundreds of furious protesters. During the march down the hill, rocks were thrown and several fights broke out. In one incident, a white man was arrested by the police after pulling a knife out in response to being hit with a rock.
Once the Klansmen arrived at the garage, police cordoned off the road for the convoy of Klan-cars to depart from Columbia.
Of the cars that the Klansmen left the rally in, there were only two or three that had South Carolina license plates. The rest were from Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and North Carolina.
During the hasty departure, one car being driven by one of the leading rally organizers took a turn too sharply and crashed into a lamppost on the corner of Lincoln and Senate Streets.
One North Carolina man named Josh, who asked to be identified only by his first name, witnessed the car wreck.
"At some point people got past the police line and started attacking the KKK, and some of them attacked back," Josh said. "The cops were overwhelmed and didn't really do anything at first. Towards the end, when they were trying to get them out of the garage, people surrounded it and one of the NSM guys got scared and tried to mess with people in his car. When they got close to his car, he accidentally drove into a streetlight in front of him and knocked it down. His airbag went off and everyone rushed the car and made fun of him. It was one of the greatest, funniest things I've ever seen."
At the end of Saturday after the rally, it seemed that despite the mixed opinions on the nature of the flag removal, one thing was certain — hate was not welcome in Columbia on Saturday.