Indian community in college town anxious after violence

A disquieting anxiety has gripped the residents of Charlottesville, many of whom are Indian Americans, after a rally of white supremacists ended in clashes with counter-protesters and claimed the life a woman.

While normalcy seemed to have returned to the city, residents grappled with shock and fear following a day of violence when a car rammed into a crowd peacefully protesting against the rally by white supremacists, killing the 32-year-old woman.

The city in the US state of Virginia has a significant Indian and Indian-American population, but there was no report of anyone from the community being injured in the violence on Saturday.

“It’s still difficult for us to understand and grapple with the reality that such a thing has happened. This is not what the city is about,” said Sankaran Venkataraman, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, MasterCard, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.

Venkataraman has lived in Charlottesville, about 190 kilometres southwest of Washington DC, for nearly 20 years.

His daughter’s friend had gone to the downtown area to take part in the counter protest to the white supremacist rally. She returned with a broken leg.

“(The violence) doesn’t represent any of the views or characters of the people here. We are progressive people who believe in diversity and inclusiveness. “For something like this to happen is a shock to us.”