I’M GUESSING IT’S BECAUSE, AS IN SAN JOSE, THE AUTHORITIES WANTED THE LEFT TO BEAT UP ITS OPPONENTS UNMOLESTED: Why weren’t neo-Nazis, anti-fascists kept apart at Capitol?

Journalists across the Sacramento region describe last Sunday’s riot at Capitol Park as among the most violent events they’ve covered.

The final tally was 10 people injured, five stabbed. The out-of-control protesters were photographed and caught on video attacking KCRA’s Mike Luery and videographer John Breedlove, as well as random passers-by. They used sticks the heft of baseball bats, knives and chunks of concrete. The Bee’s Paul Kitagaki Jr. barely avoided two concrete chunks and was caught in pepper spray, as was Frances Wang of Channel 10 (KXTV).

It was a melee between neo-Nazis – who had been given a permit for a rally on Capitol grounds – and a loosely organized group of self-identified anti-fascists, or “Antifa,” who came armed to shut down the rally. We have yet to hear satisfying answers to questions we’ve asked in the aftermath, particularly from the CHP: Why did officers appear to hang back as the initially quiet crowd erupted into violence? And why were no arrests made before protesters were allowed to leave? . . .

Kitagaki and Stanton are experienced journalists who have covered chaotic events. Kitagaki covered the 1999 Seattle riots protesting the WTO, which resulted in much destruction, and rioting in the 1980s in Berkeley. Stanton covered the violent copper mining strike riots in Arizona in the 1980s and numerous events involving white supremacist groups and militias. Through all of it, Stanton said, “I can’t recall ever walking into a situation where police were standing back while participants were swinging and charging at each other without cops reacting.”

“Nobody’s seen a police response like this,” he said. “It was just strange.”

People are assumed to intend the natural and probable results of their actions. I assume that this is what they wanted to happen.