Anxiety surround Charlottesville residents after violent rally

THE HINU, 14th AUGUST, 2017

A disquiet anxiety has surrounded the residents of Charlottesville, many of whom are Indian-americans, after a rally of white supremacists ended in violent clashes with counter-protesters and claimed the life of a 32-yearold woman.

While normalcy seemed to have returned to the city by Sunday afternoon, 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.

The city in the U.S. 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.

Two police officers monitoring the demonstration died following a helicopter crash near the protest site and 19 others were injured, though, unofficial figures could be high. “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,” Sankaran Venkataraman, said Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, Mastercard, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.

Mr. Venkataraman has lived in Charlottesville, which is about 120 miles southwest of Washington DC, for nearly 20 years.

His daughters’ friend had gone to the downtown to take part in the counter protest to the white supremacist rally on Saturday. She has 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.