White nationalists return to Charlottesville for rally
‘Alt-right’ activist Richard Spencer leads the protest at Emancipation Park
Washington, Oct. 8: White nationalists briefly rallied on Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, where violent clashes in August led to the death of a woman who was run down by a car.
A few dozen white nationalists, led by socalled “alt-right” activist Richard Spencer and carrying torches gathered at Emancipation Park near a covered statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, the removal of which was blocked by a court pending the outcome of a legal challenge.
The group held a brief rally that police estimated took about five to 10 minutes. They dressed similarly in white shirts and some wore sunglasses in the dark.
Mr Spencer posted a video on Twitter showing the protest, in which opponents of the removal of Lee’s statue chanted “You will not replace us” and “We will be back.”
Spencer and his supporters alleged that Charlottesville was suppressing their speech and said that its residents should “get used to the altright. You’re going to have to get used to white identity.”
After the rally, they left the park, boarded a tour bus and departed from the city, Charlottesville police said. Police cars followed the tour bus to make sure the group was leaving the city. Charlottesville’s Mayor Mike Signer fired off an angry response on Twitter, telling Spencer and the protesters to “go home.”
“Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards. You’re not welcome here!,” Signer tweeted, adding “we’re looking at all our legal options. Stay tuned.”
An August rally organized by white nationalists to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue turned deadly when counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed by a car driven into a crowd.
The violence stemmed from a heated national debate about whether Confederate symbols of the US Civil War memorialise past leaders and dead soldiers or rather invoke white supremacy and the Confederacy’s acceptance of the slavery of blacks.
In the wake of the rally, other cities have acted to remove monuments to the Confederacy.