8 Alleged Antifa Members Sentenced in San Diego Counterprotest at 2021 ‘Patriot March’

SAN DIEGO—Eight of eleven people indicted in connection with a 2021 San Diego Pacific Beach “counterprotest” that turned violent received sentences on June 28 ranging from six months to two years in prison. The defendants, described by prosecutors as self-identified anti-fascists, were charged with orchestrating a series of violent attacks on attendees of the Jan. 9, 2021, pro-Trump “Patriot March.” The violence erupted three days after the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol during a period of “tremendous upheaval in our country,” San Diego Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein noted at the sentencing hearing. Prosecutors from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office argued that the defendants converged on San Diego under the banner of Antifa with plans to attack conservative Patriot March attendees, and while clad in tactical gear proceeded to pepper spray, beat, throw objects at, and use Tasers on various people....