Three dead in race riots in US, Trump’s response seen as weak

Across party lines, leaders slammed president for not denouncing white supremacy

WASHINGTON: The college town of Charlottesville, Virginia erupted in violence as a car ploughed through people protesting a rally by white nationalists, killing one and injuring 19 others.

The car drove through the counter-protestors, came to a stop against another car, and backed up all the way down the street.

The driver, later identified as Ohio resident James Alex Fields (20), was arrested while fleeing on foot. The justice department has also opened civil rights investigations into the car attack, to be conducted by the FBI.

In an unrelated incident, two police officers died when their helicopter crashed. Officials said the crash was linked to the rally but did not explain further.

Fifteen more were injured in clashes as white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered to protest the removal of a statue of Gen Robert E Lee.

Counter-protestors, comprising members of Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist groups called “antifa” gathered in large numbers, determined to oppose the white nationalists.

Violence was expected, and the police were prepared. But governor Terry McAuliffe — a democrat — imposed a state of emergency in Charlottesville, saying he was “disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence.”

But President Donald Trump did not say a word and delayed a tweet about it, despite reports of the violence leading all cable new channels.

Eventually he did tweet about the violence, writing: “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets (sic) come together as one!”

However, many dismissed it as weak and vague.

Trump returned with a fuller statement later, but sparked more controversy.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides,” he said, leading Vanita Gupta, who headed the civil rights division of the justice department of under former president Barack Obama, to tweet: “On ‘many sides’? He just cannot acknowledge ‘white supremacy’.”

Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, said: “We should call evil by its name. My brother didn’t give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home.”