Charlottesville, a city paying the price for daring to remove the statue of a Confederate general
AT THE scene where a suspected far-right extremist mowed down anti-fascist protesters in Charlottesville, Anna Quillom spent Sunday laying dozens of carnations along the street.
“I grew up here but this doesn’t feel like my home anymore. The lid’s come off it,” said Miss Quillom, 36, who runs wine tours in the historic college town. Welling up with tears, she added: “It was the best place in the world, inclusive, everyone cares about each other. Why are these Nazis able to come into our city?” Nearby, at a makeshift memorial, a sign read: “No Place For Hate!” A red shoe, lost by one of the victims, had been stuffed with roses.
Charlottesville, a town of 47,000 with a university very much at its heart, was shattered by Saturday’s events when hundreds of extremists descended and violence erupted.
In the high street, dotted with book and antique shops, people appeared stunned.
Questions abounded. Had Donald Trump helped foster an atmosphere that has led to their home becoming the new ground zero in America’s race war? Why were groups that once operated in the shadows, now connected across America by social media, becoming increasingly emboldened to launch public displays of hate? In Charlottesville, where the council is seeking to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, they have found a cause célèbre.
Fascists, nationalists, anti-semites, and Hitler enthusiasts marched openly in the streets shouting the Nazi slogan “Blood and Soil” and displaying the kind of insignia normally locked secretly in basements.
After they left, an elderly woman cried as she tried to clean detritus from the red-brick pavement.
“We need to look at the 25th Amendment again,” she whispered, referring to the US Constitution’s provision for removing a president “unable to discharge the duties of his office”. She said: “This is the summer of madness in the White House.”
It was on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon that the driver of a silver Dodge sports car sped down Charlottesville’s narrow 4th Street, past a fine cigar shop, a spa, and a record store before crashing into two stationary cars.
Anti-fascist protesters were sent flying into the air. One woman died and 19 other people were injured. Moments afterwards people were seen desperately running away, screaming and crying. One shouted: “It’s a terrorist attack!” On 4th Street several people lay injured at the edge of the road, including a young woman with a head wound.
Amid chaotic scenes police arrived in an armoured car. “Why are you bringing guns? We need ambulances,” one man shouted angrily. The ambulances arrived and numerous people were taken away on stretchers.
Witnesses estimated the driver was doing 40mph and “hit at least 20 people”. Several said they believed he acted intentionally. They also described seeing a woman pinned between two vehicles. The driver, reversed away at speed but was arrested nearby.
The arrested man was James Alex Fields Jr, from Ohio. He had been pictured earlier marching with a shield handed out by the far right group Vanguard America. The group later issued a statement saying he was not one of their members.
It emerged Fields, who has been charged with murder, had dropped off his cat with his mother, Samantha Bloom, before attending the rally.
Ms Bloom said: “I thought it (the rally) had something to do with Trump. Trump’s not a white supremacist.”
Mike Signer, Charlottesville’s mayor, said Mr Trump should “look at himself in the mirror”.
He added: “He should think very deeply about who he consorted with in his campaign, and the forces they chose to work with in their quest for political advancement.
“I hope he turns the page and works to quell the forces of division and this outbreak of virtual terror, and actual terror, we saw here in our city.”
The immediate reason for Charlottesville’s newly found, and unwanted, infamy is a short walk from 4th Street. In a small square opposite a red brick church stands the imposing statue of General Lee, seated atop his horse, Traveller. It has dominated the square since 1924.
The area used to be called Lee Park, named in his honour, but in June the city council voted to change that to Emancipation Park. On Saturday it was the scene of what is now known as the “Battle of Charlottesville”, as hundreds of far-right activists, some of them armed with assault rifles, gathered for a “Unite the Right” rally.
It was intended as a protest against another vote by the council in February to remove the statue, a decision that has gone to the courts.
Appearing openly at the rally, flanked by a security team clad all in white, David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard: said: “We are going to fulfil the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump. Because he said he’s going to take our country back.”
Jason Kessler, the organiser of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, later had to be escorted away by police as he attempted to hold a press conference near City Hall.
Mr Kessler, a blogger based in Charlottesville, was smartly dressed in a suit jacket and open-necked shirt.
He was drowned out by chants including: “You’re wearing the wrong hood,” a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. The press conference, held outside City Hall, descended into scenes of absolute chaos. With armed police stationed on nearby rooftops Mr Kessler was drowned out by boos and shouts of “Shame”.
Struggling to be heard, he said: “The hate you hear around you is anti-white hate that fueled what happened yesterday. I disavow anything that led to folks getting hurt.”
He said police had “failed to do their job” protecting his rally.
Several protesters then approached Mr Kessler and began yelling that he should be charged with murder.
As police sought to move Mr Kessler away he was manhandled and fell over in some undergrowth, with punches appearing to be thrown.
One protester shouted: “Her name was Heather, her blood is on your hands Jason.”
Police took Mr Kessler away to an unknown location.
Other white nationalists sought to defend their views. Peter Cvjetanovic, 20, a history and politics undergraduate at the University of Reno in Nevada, said: “I came to this march for the message that white European culture has a right to be here just like every other culture.
“It is not perfect. There are flaws to it, of course. However, I do believe that the replacement of the statue will be the slow replacement of white heritage within the United States. Robert E Lee wasn’t a perfect man, but I want to honour and respect what he stood for during his time.”
The rally was supposed to start at noon, but an hour before that it descended into chaos. Neo-nazis and counter-protesters fought running battles as riot police tried to intervene. Bottles full of paint flew and home made pepper spray filled the air.
Organisers of the rally issued an order to “evacuate” and the extremists
‘We are going to fulfil the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in, that’s what we voted for’
‘I’m not the angry racist … White nationalists aren’t all hateful. We just want to preserve what we have’
began leaving Charlottesville. In a side street, a group of seven neo-nazis tried to cram themselves, and a giant flagpole, into a small family vehicle. A Benny Hill-esque scene unfolded as they feverishly tried various combinations before two ended up in the boot. As they sped off one of the men raised a hand in what was either a Nazi salute or an apology for the delay. It was hard to tell.
Protesters chanted “F--- Trump” and “We don’t want you here”, while the far-right demonstrator shouted: “This is my country.”
The day after the melee, the steps leading into Emancipation Park were still covered in purple paint and General Lee was surrounded by crash barriers. Nazi slogans scrawled in crayon on a pathway nearby were already fading, but the name “Robert E Lee” and the large numerals “1488” – a white power symbol – remained.
Nearby, Merle Robertson, 88, was on her way to her Episcopalian church, dressed in her Sunday best.
“I’m just so disgusted.” she said. “I watched it on TV and I was mesmerised to think this was happening in our little town, all this horrible stuff. It’s a nice quiet little place, that’s why it’s so heartbreaking.”