Four people were stabbed, and one of them critically wounded, on Saturday in a scuffle between members of the Ku Klux Klan and counter-protesters near a planned KKK rally.

Police in Anaheim, California, said that a total of thirteen people were arrested following the melee, including one Klan member who was accused of stabbing a counter-protester with a flagpole.

Several counter-protesters were taken into custody after stomping a KKK member on the ground, Anaheim Police Sergeant Daron Wyatt told Reuters.

Mr Wyatt said the altercation took place as soon as several Klan members arrived at the park about a mile north of Disneyland, for a planned rally there.

“As soon as they got out of their vehicle, immediately they were attacked by counter-protesters and this caused a melee down the block,” he said.

Mr Wyatt said four people were wounded in the ensuing confrontation. The person most seriously wounded was stabbed with a flagpole that had an American eagle finial at the top and taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

Several witnesses said that a peaceful counter-protest had been under way for about three hours when the Klansmen arrived in a black SUV.

The vehicle pulled up and three men got out and began to unload signs when the group of about 50 counter-protesters approached them, yelling and throwing sticks, witnesses said.