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Far-right Proud Boys members sentenced over Manhattan brawl

Handout CCTV footage captured members of the Proud Boys viciously beating protestersHandout
CCTV footage captured members of the Proud Boys viciously beating protesters

Two members of US far-right group the Proud Boys pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Friday in connection with a brawl in Manhattan in October 2018.

Jake Freijo and Eryk Kacznyski were sentenced to five days of community service as part of a plea deal.

Six other Proud Boys members charged over the fight have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

The Proud Boys has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors US extremism.

The brawl broke out after a speech by Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys founder, at Manhattan's Metropolitan Republican Club.

CCTV footage showed the Proud Boys members charging at a group who had come to protest against Mr McInnes' appearance and viciously beating them.

Prosecutors recommended the harshest possible sentence - a year in jail - against two of the members. John Kinsman and Maxwell Hare pleaded guilty to attempted assault and second-degree rioting charges.

Prosecutors called Kinsman, seen in the video wearing a red cap, the "single most vicious" member of Proud Boys, the New York Post reported.

Police said initially that the violence started after a protester threw a bottle - which can be seen clearly in the CCTV footage - but a second angle appeared to show that the Proud Boys members were already charging at the protesters when the bottle was thrown.

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The morning of the speech, the Metropolitan Republican Club was targeted by vandals who spray-painted anti-fascist graffiti on its walls and glued its locks shut, police said.

On the night of the brawl, police arrested three protesters in a separate incident and charged them with assault.