Hundreds of Ku Klux Klan supporters and opponents clashed at a KKK rally on the steps of the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday as scattered fights broke out and several people were hurt.
"We all should have just ignored this whole thing," said Adrian Garrett, a black Indianapolis resident who said he came to watch because of advance publicity.Those injured included three newspaper photographers struck by members of the crowd. Two were treated and released from a local hospital, and the condition of a third wasn't known immediately. Fire Department medics said seven people in all were treated.
The Klan and counterdemonstrators dueled with loudspeakers for about a half-hour, shouting back and forth before the white supremacists retreated into the Statehouse.
Forty white-robed Klansmen took part in the rally while several hundred supporters and opponents gathered around.
Police in riot gear kept opponents about 100 feet away, but fights broke out as Klan supporters, trying to leave after the rally, encountered some of those who had gathered to oppose the KKK.
Mayor Stephen Goldsmith accused hate groups from Detroit, New York and elsewhere of stirring up trouble.
"They converged to bring a hateful message to Indy," the mayor said. "We did our best and what was legally possible to keep the groups separated."
State police said it wasn't known how many people were arrested.