Demonstrators stabbed during large rally at River Park in northeast Fresno

Three people were stabbed during a demonstration Wednesday night near River Park Shopping Center in northeast Fresno.

Fresno police said a man got upset around 6:30 p.m. that some of the demonstrators from the “Stand with Armenia” rally were causing standstill traffic, blocking the flow of the road by parking a couple of cars in the northbound lanes of Blackstone Avenue near Nees Avenue.

A confrontation and violence ensued.

The agitated man got out of his car and confronted some among the approximate 150 demonstrators at the southeast corner of the popular intersection near the “River Park” sign, according to Lt. Israel Reyes.

“A couple of the individuals that were part of the protest decided they were going to park their vehicles in the northbound lanes of Blackstone,” Reyes said. “That irritated a lot of people. ...

“There were some words exchanged over the protest (between the upset man and demonstrators). There was some type of physical disturbance.”

Then the man allegedly returned to his vehicle and pulled out a bat or a stick and starting swinging it amid the crowd, Reyes said.

At least one of the demonstrators was able to get a hold of the upset man to stop him from swinging the bat/stick further.

But that’s when the man, according to witnesses who spoke to police, either pulled out a knife from his pocket or already had a knife in his hand, and “started swinging it violently,” Reyes described.

Three young men, between the ages 18 to 26 years old, were injured by the knife.

Two were transported to Fresno Community Regional Medical Center, with one suffering a laceration to his chest and the other victim with a laceration to his arm.

The third victim sustained injury to his finger but did not need medical assistance.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, according to Reyes.

The suspect managed to flee the scene by ramming a couple of vehicles to get out of the traffic lot, Reyes said. The upset man cut through a parking lot then headed east along Nees.

Police got leads on the alleged assailant, whom witnesses said was driving a dark-colored sedan. A suspect was later arrested and identified Thursday by Fresno police as Jaime Fonseca, 41.

Rallies, meanwhile, have been occurring in Fresno for nearly a month with demonstrators calling for peace amid Armenia’s current war with Azerbaijan.

This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 8:33 PM.