A protester is accused of hitting a state police horse with a flagpole topped with a nail during a rally Saturday at the state Capitol.

Lisa Joy Simon

Lisa Joy Simon, 23, of Philadelphia, is accused of using a flagpole with a silver nail sticking one-half inch out of the top to hit state police horse Sampson, Harrisburg police said.

Simon was with the group AntiFA, police said, which was protesting against the "March Against Sharia" promoted by ACT for America.

ACT for America calls itself the "NRA of national security" and is classified as an anti-Muslim extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

State police said other protesters were seen carrying weapons such as sharpened bamboo poles and baseball bats.

During the rally, a state police corporal with Sampson were trying to move the crowd from blocking the 1200 block of North Sixth Street onto the sidewalk.

Police accuse Simon of hitting the horse in the side of the neck while obstructing troopers from performing their duties to move the crowd onto the sidewalk. Simon is also accused of resisting Harrisburg police officers who were trying to make the arrest.

The trooper and horse were able to continue working with minimal injury, police said.

Simon is charged with aggravated assault to police, trauma to police animals, prohibited offensive weapons, obstruction to law enforcement function, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Simon was placed in Dauphin County prison in lieu of $100,000 bail, and her preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 6.

During the rally Saturday morning, the crowd moved from the Capitol steps at North Third and State streets north on Third Street throughout the midtown area.