Poor participation at white supremacist rally
WASHINGTON : Manny Dortu, a 24-year-old African American from New Jersey, stood outside the White House on a rainy Sunday to see what white supremacists look like. He wanted “to see their faces”, who these people were and who can hate so much.
He will have to wait another day to find out.
The Unite the Right 2 march by white supremacists fizzled out in comparison to the preceding hype that had attracted attention around the country and beyond.
It was over by the time Dortu made it to the park minutes before it commenced the final stage of the rally.
Only about two dozens of white supremacists showed up at the White House with the chief organiser Jason Kessler, who had earlier told a reporter his intention was to assert his right to speech and expression.
Kessler and his supporters entered the city through a metro station, under the watchful and forbidding eyes of rival protesters, who were prepared to ham and heckle them. They proceeded through the city under police escort, a significantly smaller body than they had anticipated and advertised.
They were badly outnumbered by thousands of protesters who had waited there for them, some of them in masks and body armour, held back behind steelgate cordons and a line of police officers, standing shoulder to shoulder. And they were badly out-shouted, their speeches drowned by a steady chant of slogans, catcalls and F-words and their variations.
They were led into special vehicles arranged by authorities shortly after, for a drive back to a metro station to take them out of the city and deposit in the adjoining Virginia state for the remaining part of the journey home. They were not wanted and the city wanted them out as soon as possible. “We won,” said Larry Frank, an engineer from neighbouring state of Maryland, who said the last time he took part in protests was during the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
No one was or injured, and none had been arrested. It was indeed a victory for a people determined to face down what turned out to be a handful of farright supporters and for their city that was far better prepared than the 2017 Charlottesville rally.