Thomas Novelly and Billy Kobin | Courier Journal

Some of the Democratic Socialists were hit with pepper spray or a similar substance, they say

The Democratic Socialists accused the group of men of being "white nationalists"

Shortly after the group arrived at the bar, they were confronted by men standing on the sidewalk

The Louisville chapter of the Democratic Socialists had posted on Facebook where they were meeting

Editor's note: A video of the incident at The Silver Dollar embedded in this report includes language some viewers may find offensive.

A group of Democratic Socialists who were holding a public meeting at a Louisville restaurant Thursday night were harassed and attacked by a group of anti-leftists, according to the owner of The Silver Dollar.

The Louisville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America was hosting an event at the popular Frankfort Avenue restaurant from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, according to a public Facebook event.

Shortly after the Democratic Socialists had gathered, at least four men began taunting and swearing at them from the sidewalk near the whiskey bar and restaurant's patio and telling them to leave, according to a Courier Journal review of a video from the encounter in the Clifton neighborhood east of downtown.

The police arrived around 8:10 p.m. There were no arrests or severe injuries.

In a statement on Facebook, the Democratic Socialists said they "were attacked by white nationalists" during their meeting. “Nobody was seriously harmed, but it is clear that the far-right will become violent towards working people who resist their agenda. We will not be intimidated by these cowardly acts," the Facebook post said.

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Vanessa Cantley, proprietor of The Silver Dollar, told the Courier Journal late Thursday that the Democratic Socialists told her that they recognized the men as members of a "white nationalist organization" from previous encounters.

The men in the video have not been identified.

Louisville Courier Journal

But Shannon Ashby told the Courier Journal on Friday that a group of 10 to 12 people, most of them members of the American Action Force Three Percent, were at the restaurant Thursday to talk about events and "just have some beers."

He said a shouting match started after one member of his group, who he said is also a part of the far-right men's organization Proud Boys, recognized a Democratic Socialist member he had fought with a few months ago at an event in New Albany, Indiana. Proud Boys is designated as a general hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Ashby said some of his group's members could have been in the video but he was not certain. He declined to identify his group members who were at The Silver Dollar.

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Louisville Metro police spokesman Lamont Washington said Friday morning an investigation is ongoing and that he could not confirm if the men were white nationalists. How each of the groups describe each other is "all subjective," Washington said.

Washington said officers heard “conflicting reports” from members of the two groups. One woman told police she was hit with mace. She was treated by emergency services but was not taken anywhere for additional medical treatment. The woman filed a police report, Washington said.

According toan incident report, LMPD officers were sent to Silver Dollar at 8 p.m. on reports of “general trouble” and separated the two sides.

“Given the conflicting stories received by officers and the officers not witnessing the incident, a report was taken and no arrests were made,” Washington wrote in an email, which also included a link to body camera video of officers interacting with the group of people.

The person who called police said they were being harassed. Police officers who responded observed two groups arguing, with “one group on the sidewalk and the other on the business property.”

More below the video

LMPD, Louisville Courier Journal

After separating the groups, an officer spoke with the people who called from The Silver Dollar, who told police they had been “sprayed with some type of ‘pepper spray,’” according to the report. They told police there were 15 to 20 people on the sidewalk and that they did not know which person in that group “sprayed the irritant,” the report states.

The victims, whose names were redacted in the report, were a 34-year-old white woman, a 29-year-old white woman and a 21-year-old white man.

Cantley, the restaurant owner, said she was not sure how many members of the Democratic Socialists were at the restaurant, and she could not say how many anti-leftists took part in the confrontation.

“They hit my general manager and some others on the back patio with pepper spray,” Cantley told the Courier Journal. “They were just standing on the sidewalk and didn’t move on.”

A video shared by one of the Silver Dollar patrons shows at least four men, some wearing camouflage hoodies and others wearing skull T-shirts, yelling at the Democratic Socialists as they’re on the patio.

“Take your socialist, Commie bull---t and get the f--k out of here,” one man in a black hooded sweatshirt says loudly. “Don’t come in my godd----n area anymore.”

Social Democrats are activists who believe that both the social and economic policies of a country should be controlled by democratic methods. White nationalists embrace white supremacist or white separatist ideologies and increasingly are confronting leftist groups.

AAF Three Percent is affiliated with the Three Percenters, a loosely organized movement of strict constructionists with a particular focus on the Second Amendment. The group's name stems from the historically unsupported claim that 3 percent of American colonists took up arms against the British. The national Three Percenters movements is identified as an anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Ashby said the AAF Three Percent is a “patriotic” group that “believes in God and country and family” and is not a white nationalist group. Ashby said the group has “kicked out” white nationalists and KKK members from prior protests and events in the Louisville area.

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Ashby said Friday that he did not see any mace or pepper spray used while his group was there.

Cantley said the men who started the confrontation were lingering inside the bar and bought a few drinks before engaging the Democratic Socialists. She said she has copies of their credit card slips and surveillance footage of them, and she plans to file a criminal complaint Friday with the general manager who was attacked.

“LMPD officers who arrived asked the perpetrators who were left to leave, but told our manager they did not have probable cause to search the perpetrators,” Cantley posted Thursday night on Facebook.

Washington said a police report was not available because it was still an open investigation. As of 1 p.m. Friday, LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said a criminal complaint had not been filed. Josh Abner, spokesman for Jefferson County Attorney's Office, said the office does not disclose if complaints have been filed or not.

In July, members of the AAF Three Percent and Three Percenters were part of a counterdemonstration in Louisville during a rally calling to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Three Percenters kicked out a group of Ku Klux Klan members during their counterprotest saying racism wasn’t welcome, the Courier Journal previously reported.

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“We’ve got a strong belief in our Constitution, and we believe in the laws of our land. Most members of my group are Marine veterans,” Ashby said Friday. “We took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies, both foreign and domestic. Socialism will always be the enemy of the constitutional republic we all live in."

Cantley, meanwhile, posted on Facebook that she is "gathering video from the restaurant and will be posting photos and other information on social media in an effort to identify the perpetrators of this crime."

Councilman Bill Hollander, who represents District 9 where The Sliver Dollar is located, responded Friday to one of the men who can be heard calling the neighborhood "my area" in the video.

“District 9 is not ‘your area,'" Hollander said in the Facebook post, directed at the group of men who harassed the restaurant-goers. "It never will be."