Marchers hurt in nationalist rally
A CAR ploughed into a group of people marching peacefully through Charlottesville as tensions rise during a white nationalist rally in the Virginian city.
At least one person was witnessed lying on the ground receiving medical treatment immediately after the incident, which occurred approximately two hours after violent clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters.
The nationalists are holding the rally in protest over plans by the city of Charlottesville to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.
Several hundred protesters were marching in a long line when the car drove into a group of them.
Earlier, US president Donald Trump tweeted that “we ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for”.
He then wrote: “There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”
Virginia’s governor Terry McAuliffe had declared a state of emergency in response to the rally.
He said via his Twitter account on Saturday morning that the declaration was made in order “to aid state response to violence”.
The demonstrations began on Friday in Charlottesville with white nationalists marching through town carrying lit torches.
The demonstrators then clashed with counter-protesters. Some of the white nationalists cited Mr Trump’s election victory as a validation of their beliefs.
The White House was silent for hours about the clashes, except for a solitary tweet from US first lady Melania Trump. She wrote: “Our country encourages freedom of speech, but let’s communicate w/o hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence.”
The president has received previous criticism for being slow to con- demn acts of hate carried out in his name.
The organiser of the white nationalist rally is now encouraging attendees to leave town after authorities declared an unlawful assembly and police ordered people to disperse.
Right-wing blogger Jason Kessler organised the demo in protest over the statue decision. He told the Associated Press that he and other people who were going to speak at the event evacuated with security when police issued the order to disperse.