DETROIT _ A planned rally by an alt-right group was met with counterprotesters, leading to escalating tensions in Kalamazoo.
Proud Boys, the alt-right group, planned a rally in Kalamazoo in support of police officers and to denounce antifa, reported WWMT. After seeing the planned rally, members of the People's Defense League of Michigan gathered at Arcadia Creek Festival Place to counterprotest.
As tensions between the two groups escalated, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety began making arrests around 2:30 p.m., according to WWMT.
WWMT reported the Proud Boys did not reserve any park space or request any permits to host an event in the city, but a permit is not necessarily needed for protests.
The Proud Boys is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to their white nationalist memes and affiliations with known extremists, according to the SPLC.