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2 Proud Boys Sentenced to 4 Years in Brawl With Antifa at Republican Club 2 Proud Boys Sentenced to 4 Years in Brawl With Anti-Fascists at Republican Club
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Two members of the far-right group the Proud Boys were sentenced to four years in state prison on Tuesday for taking part in an attack on protesters outside a Republican club on the Upper East Side last year. Two members of the far-right Proud Boys were each sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday by a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan who criticized their participation in a “political street fight” last year on the Upper East Side.
The two defendants, Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, were convicted in August in a Manhattan courtroom on charges of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot for their part in a melee in October last year. The defendants, Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, were among ten men who prosecutors said attacked four people protesting a speech at the Metropolitan Republican Club by the Proud Boys founder, Gavin McInnes.
The clash came after an appearance by Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys at the Metropolitan Republican Club on East 83rd Street. The masked protesters, who did not cooperate with the police, were believed to be self-described anti-fascists.
The brawl mirrored clashes in other cities that had pitted far-right groups, calling for “free speech” or chanting nationalist and racist slogans, against leftists, including a loose-knit group known as Antifa, who have physically confronted people they see as fascists or Nazis. In the sentencing, Justice Mark Dwyer said the punishment was meant in part to deter others who seek to turn political differences into partisan street brawls.
“I know enough about history to know what happened in Europe in the 30s,” he said.
The violence in October last year was captured in photographs and video, generating outrage and prompting condemnation from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others.
The brawl, which took place on East 82nd Street near Park Avenue, was seen by many as mirroring similar clashes between right and left in places like Berkeley, Calif., Portland, Ore., and Charlottesville, Va.
Both defendants were convicted in August of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot. Seven others charged in the incident pleaded guilty.
In court on Tuesday, a prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass recommended that Justice Dwyer sentence Mr. Hare and Mr. Kinsman to five years in prison, saying “violence meant to intimidate and silence” should have no place in society.
He cited a history of conflict between the Proud Boys — who are generally supporters of President Trump and disdain liberals, feminists and Islam — and Antifa, a loose affiliation of left-leaning activists who advocate using physical force against people they see as fascists.
“In cities across America these two groups have repeatedly engaged in violence against one another,” he added. “It became clear during this trial that violence is very much ingrained in the Proud Boys ethos.”
The defendants apologized for their actions. Mr. Hare, 27, who initiated the attack last October, said: “I made a mistake that night.”
Mr. Kinsman, 40, whom a prosecutor had called “the single most vicious of all the attackers,” said: “I regret the entire incident.”
Justice Dwyer also appeared to lay some of the blame for the violence at the feet of Mr. McInnes, a co-founder of Vice Magazine who created the Proud Boys in 2016 and who was not involved in the court proceedings. Though he did not mention Mr. McInnes by name, the judge referred to the leadership of the group.
“It’s a shame when some people jump up and down on a platform,” the judge said, “and their followers, their soldiers, get in trouble.”