WHITE SPITE
Charlottesville creep’s D.C. hatefest OKd
The organizer of last year’s deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., got a petition approved Thursday to hold another far-right event — this time directly in front of the White House.
Jason Kessler, who organized the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville last August, was given a go-ahead from the National Park Service to throw a white supremacist protest in Washington on Sunday.
The event, dubbed “Unite the Right 2,” will take place in Lafayette Park, just across the road from the White House, according to Kessler’s website. The permit allows 400 far-right adherents to rally in the historic park.
The National Park Service also issued two permits for counterprotests that will take place in the capital on the same day. Police have stressed they will deploy hundreds of officers to make sure the two feuding factions are separated.
“On Sunday we know that we have people coming to our city for the sole purpose of spewing hate,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Bowser offered her condolences to the family of Heather Heyer, the 32-yearold killed by a neo-Nazi who plowed his sports car into a crowd of counter protesters during last year’s Charlottesville rally.
The mayor urged Washington residents to peacefully protest Sunday’s event and condemned the far-right forces pushing forward with a second event.
“It didn’t make sense last year and it doesn’t make sense now,” she said.
Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency ahead of the anniversary of the Charlottesville mayhem. No protests are scheduled in Charlottesville on Sunday, but the governor said the announcement was made out of an abundance of caution.
Local authorities faced intense scrutiny in the wake of last year’s Charlottesville event for not doing enough to ensure the safety of counterprotesters.
President Trump infamously inflamed the issue further, blaming “both sides” for the deadly violence and claiming there were “many fine people” among the white supremacists.