A Davis-area man was arraigned Friday on criminal charges stemming from last year’s clash between neo-Nazis and anti-fascist demonstrators on the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento.
Michael A. Williams, 56, is due to return Monday morning to Sacramento Superior Court, where his defense attorney Linda Parisi will request a reduction in his $500,000 bail, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Supporters told the newspaper that Williams is a member of the “Brown Berets,” an activist group that was providing protection to the antifa counter-demonstrators during the June 26, 2016, neo-Nazi rally.
His arrest on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and participating in a riot was one of four announced last week in connection with the skirmish, which left 10 people injured.
Williams wrote a 2012 opinion piece regarding the Occupy movement that appeared in The Davis Enterprise, describing himself as “a product of Davis public schools, a UCD alumnus and an English teacher in Davis.”
