US police ‘colluded with Nazis’ to identify anti-racist protesters: court documents

US police and prosecutors, investigating a violent white supremacist event, are appeared to have been working with “Nazis,” seeking their help to target anti-racism protesters, court documents show.

Anti-fascist protesters, facing felony charges for participating in a counter-protest last year, told California judges that police were working with “fascists” to identify activists with “anti-racist” beliefs, The Guardian reported.

The rally turned violent when the "neo-Nazi" groups were met by hundreds of “anti-racism” protesters near California’s capitol building in Sacramento in June 2016. At least ten people were injured.

“It is shocking and really angering to see the level of collusion and the amount to which the police covered up for the Nazis,” Yvette Felarca, an anti-fascist organizer told court.

Felarca, who charged with assault and rioting after participating in the rally, said she was stabbed and bludgeoned in the head.

“This is a textbook case of a political witch-hunt and selective prosecution,” said Shanta Driver, one of her attorneys.

Steve Grippi, chief deputy district attorney prosecuting the case in Sacramento, however, denied the allegations.

Her attorneys also said they obtained numerous examples of California highway patrol (CHP) officers, working directly with Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), which is known as a white nationalist hate group.

Officers also worked with TWP member Derik Punneo to try to identify anti-fascist activists, according to CHP recordings. According to audio recordings, the officers brought photos to show Punneo, hoping he could help them identify anti-fascist activists.

“We’re pretty much going after them,” said the officers, who assured Punneo they were “looking at you as a victim.”

According to CHP investigator Donovan Ayres, Punneo was armed with a knife at the neo-Nazi rally and that one stabbing victim told officers he believed Punneo was responsible.

Using video footage, Ayres also said that Punneo was “in the vicinity” of another victim at the time he was injured, but the officers said the evidence ultimately wasn’t clear. Punneo, however, was not charged.

Ayres’ report included images and names of three other TWP-affiliated men who were armed with knives, but who also have faced no charges.

The leaders of the white nationalist group, TWP, are known for praising President Donald Trump and claimed that they have brought “more than 100 people to the Charlottesville white supremacist rally, where an anti-racism protester was killed.

The rally was organized to protest against the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee, was held in August last year.

Trump, who came under fire for waiting too long to condemn the white nationalist groups involved in the deadly clashes, even sparked firestorm, when in later remarks suggested that the counter-protesters were just as violent as the white supremacists.

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