Charlottesville under siege
Murder and mayhem tears apart the ‘best place in the world’
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — At the scene where a suspected far-right extremist mowed down anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville, Va., Anna Quillom spent Sunday laying dozens of carnations along the street.
“I grew up here, but this doesn’t feel like my home anymore. The lid’s come off it,” said Quillom, 36, who runs wine tours in the historic college town.
Welling up with tears, she added: “It was the best place in the world, inclusive, everyone cares about each other. Why are these Nazis able to come into our city?”
Nearby, at a makeshift memorial, a sign read: “No Place For Hate!” A red shoe, lost by one of the victims, had been stuffed with roses.
Charlottesville, a town of 47,000 with a university very much at its heart, was shattered by Saturday’s events when hundreds of extremists descended and violence erupted.
On the main street dotted with book and antique shops, people appeared stunned.
Questions abounded. Had President Donald Trump helped foster an atmosphere that has led to their home becoming the new ground zero in America’s race war? Why were groups that once operated in the shadows, now connected across America by social media, becoming increasingly emboldened to launch public displays of hate?
In Charlottesville, where the city council is seeking to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, they have found a cause celebre.
Fascists, nationalists, anti-Semites and Hitler enthusiasts marched openly in the streets shouting the Nazi slogan “blood and soil” and displaying the kind of insignia normally locked secretly in extremists’ basements.
After they left, an elderly woman cried as she tried to clean detritus from the red-brick pavement.
“We need to look at the 25th Amendment again,” she whispered, referring to the U.S. Constitution’s provision for removing a president “unable to discharge the duties of his office.” She added: “This is the summer of madness in the White House.”
It was on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon that the driver of a silver Dodge sped down Charlottesville’s narrow 4th Street, past a fine cigar shop, a spa and a record store before crashing into two stationary cars.
Anti-fascist protesters were sent flying into the air. One woman died and 19 other people were injured. Moments afterward, people were seen desperately running away, screaming and crying. One shouted: “It’s a terrorist attack!” On 4th Street, several people lay injured at the edge of the road, including a young woman with a head wound.
Amid chaotic scenes, police arrived in an armoured car. “Why are you bringing guns? We need ambulances,” one man shouted angrily. The ambulances arrived and numerous people were taken away on stretchers.
The arrested man was James Alex Fields Jr. from Ohio. He had been pictured earlier marching with a shield handed out by the far-right group Vanguard America. The group later issued a statement saying he was not one of their members.
It emerged Fields, who has been charged with murder, had dropped off his cat with his mother Samantha Bloom before attending the rally. Bloom said: “I thought it (the rally) had something to do with Trump. Trump’s not a white supremacist.”
Mike Signer, Charlottesville’s mayor, said Trump should “look at himself in the mirror.”
He added: "He should think very deeply about who he consorted with in his campaign and the forces they chose to work with in their quest for political advancement.
“I hope he turns the page and works to quell the forces of division and this outbreak of virtual terror and actual terror we saw here in our city.”
The immediate reason for Charlottesville’s newly found and unwanted infamy is a short walk from 4th Street. In a small square opposite a red-brick church stands the imposing statue of Lee, seated atop his horse Traveller.
The area used to be called Lee Park in his honour, but in June city council voted to change that to Emancipation Park. On Saturday, it was the scene of what is now known as the “Battle of Charlottesville,” as hundreds of far-right activists, some of them armed with assault rifles, gathered for a “Unite the Right” rally.
It was intended as a protest against another vote by the council in February to remove the statue, a decision that has gone to the courts.
Appearing openly at the rally, David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard: said: “We are going to fulfil the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump. Because he said he’s going to take our country back.”
— The Telegraph