What was billed as a "free speech" rally at the Evergreen State College turned into yet another West Coast showdown between conservative activists and hooded members of the "antifa" or anti-fascist movement.
Several dozen members of the conservative group Patriot Prayer gathered Thursday evening to make a statement against what they view as liberal intolerance on the Olympia campus.
Some wore "Make America Great Again" hats, helmets, and makeshift body armor to a college known for its progressive politics and activist culture.
When Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson tried to approach a group of counter-protestors, they covered him in Silly String and threw an empty can at his head. He walked away bleeding from the side of his face, near his eye.
Armored Washington State Police troopers rushed in to separate the two sides as brief scuffles broke out. Police said they arrested a 25-year-old man and charged him with disorderly conduct.
Once the two sides were separated, participants shouted and taunted each other from across a police barricade.
Counter-protestors included students and faculty who came out the day before commencement to show support for the college. They held banners that said "Community Love."
They were joined by antifa members wearing black hoods and bandannas over their faces.
Patriot Prayer supporters and antifa members have clashed at rallies up and down the West Coast in recent months. Gibson's pro-Trump group staged a June 4 rally in Portland that opponents criticized for taking place shortly after the city's Tri-Met stabbing.
The Evergreen showdown comes at the end of a turbulent spring for the college. In late May, protests overtook the campus, with students demanding steps to ensure the equal treatment of students of color.
Viral videos of student protestors shouting at professors and administrators brought national scrutiny to the campus of 4,000 students. Anonymous threats spurred administrators to close the campus for three days in early June.
In conservative circles, the college became a national symbol of campus radicalism. On Patriot Prayer's Facebook page, organizers said "Political Correctness and Hatred has taken over the campus."
The group's rally came at a moment when the campus was mostly empty, one day before Friday's commencement ceremony, which administrators moved to Tacoma's Cheney Stadium for security reasons.
At the ceremony, Evergreen President George Bridges acknowledged the weeks of turbulence on campus
"The discussions and debates we have had were at times fierce and disturbing," he said.
But he added that "serious debate and discourse on issues like racism, freedom of expression, and inequity are vitally important to our world."
