Bay City News
A Southern California man linked to a white supremacy extremist group involved in a protest in Berkeley in 2017 pleaded guilty last week to engaging in riots at political rallies across California.
Robert Rundo, 34, of Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act.
Rundo was founder of the Rise Above Movement, or RAM, which described itself as a mixed martial arts fighting group of the new nationalist and white supremacy identity movement. According to prosecutors, Rundo and his crew attended rallies with the intent to provoke and engage in violence.
In 2017, Rundo helped organize a training for RAM members in anticipation of a rally in Berkeley on April 15.
The rally pitted pro- and anti-Trump protesters against each other at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park, leading to the arrest of at least 20 people. Eleven people were injured and seven of those were taken to hospitals, according to police.
At the Berkeley rally, Rundo and several of his co-conspirators crossed a police barrier erected to separate the two political groups.