UNITE THE RIGHT TO RALLY OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Event organised on first anniversary of Charlottesville protests
EXACTLY a year since torch-wielding neo-Nazis clashed with counter demonstrators in a deadly protest that highlighted the growing boldness of America’s extreme right, white nationalists are set to rally outside the White House tomorrow.
Organised by Unite the Right — the same white supremacist network that called last year’s protest in Charlottesville, Virginia — tomorrow’s rally will once again see the extremists stand face-to-face with anti-fascists, who were staging a counter protest in the same area.
Washington authorities ramped up the capital’s emergency level to allow for additional resources to prevent violence, but some Were bracing for confrontation.
“I don’t know exactly what will happen, but it probably will not be good,” tweeted Richard Spencer, a leader of the “alt-right” movement, who said he would be staying away from the rally.
Last year’s protests in Charlottesville began Aug 11 and saw hundreds of neo-Nazi sympathisers, accompanied by rifle-carrying men, yelling white nationalist slogans while wielding flaming torches in scenes eerily reminiscent of racist rallies held in America’s South before the Civil Rights movement.
They had gathered to protest efforts to remove statues of Confederate leaders, including one of the Confederacy’s top general, Robert E. Lee.
When the demonstrations continued on Aug 12, fighting broke out between neo-Nazi supporters and anti-fascists from a blackclad group called Antifa.
The violence culminated with a man driving a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 people.
In the immediate aftermath, President Donald Trump drew broad criticism when he appeared initially reluctant to condemn the extreme right-wingers — many of whom have rallied behind him since his election, including David Duke, a former KKK leader and avowed racist and anti-Semite who praised Trump’s “courage” in defending white nationalist protesters.
Organisers for the event have called it a “white civil rights rally” aimed at protesting “civil rights abuse in Charlottesville”.
In the capital, firearms will be banned from the protest site, including those legally carried by licensed gun owners, officials said.
Rally organisers cautioned attendees not to react with anger against any counter protesters.
“There will certainly be provocateurs trying to get a reaction out of you by trying to stick cameras in peoples’ faces, yelling, etc,” the Unite the Right website stated.
Unite the Right attendees were also encouraged to bring an American or Confederate Flag.
A permit for a counter-protest was granted on Thursday to the Answer Coalition, a group that has urged “mass action” to protest what it described as racists, fascists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.