Death and violence as neo-Nazis clash with protesters in US town
One person killed and 34 injured after car driven into group marching against far-Right rally
ONE person died and 34 people were injured when a car ploughed into a group of people marching against a farRight rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Sunday Telegraph saw injured people lying in the road moments after the silver sedan sped into the crowd, and witnesses said the driver did so intentionally “trying to kill people”.
Police later said they had arrested the driver of the car that ploughed into the crowd. Mike Signer, the city’s mayor, said: “I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here. I urge all people of good will – go home. I’m not going to make any bones about it. I place the blame for a lot of what you’re seeing in American today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president.”
A state of emergency was declared and hundreds of far-Right protesters left the city’s Emancipation Park as police used megaphones to declare their gathering an “unlawful assembly”.
Jason Kessler, a Right-wing blogger who organised the event, and Richard Spencer, a prominent “alt-Right” activist who was due to speak, were evacuated with security and encouraged followers to leave peacefully. The extremists had descended on the quiet southern city of 47,000 people for a “Unite the Right” rally but the situation quickly turned violent when they were confronted by activists from the antifascist movement known as Antifa.
Donald Trump denounced the violence, saying on Twitter: “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Let’s come together as one!” Speaking at his New Jersey golf course, the president condemned “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” which he called “very, very sad”.
He said: “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It’s been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America. We want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville and we want to study it, and we want to see what we’re doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen.” He added: “We have to re- spect each other. Ideally, we have to love each other. We have to heal the wounds of our country.”
Mr Trump declined to answer shouted questions about white nationalists who had supported him.
Far-Right activists wore Nazi symbols and shouted “blood and soil” – a slogan of the Third Reich – as they marched into the city while others carried flags of the Confederacy or imitation Viking shields. Other militia members carried assault rifles and wore military-style body armour.
The white supremacists exchanged blows with Left-wing demonstrators and in several cases people were hit with pepper spray. Police in riot gear were unable to calm the situation.
Early in the afternoon a car ploughed into anti-fascist counter-protesters marching downtown at the junction of 4th and Water Streets. Arriving on the scene, The Telegraph saw several people lying in the street injured, including a woman with a bloody head wound, and others screaming or running away. Video taken by a demonstrator showed the silver sedan speeding into and hitting two other cars that were waiting for the march to pass. Those cars were shunted into the crowd, and the driver of the speeding vehicle then quickly reversed away and fled. Witness Hunter Harman, 20, told The Telegraph: “I saw the car. We were marching and I heard a bang. Then I saw people flying though the air, then a bunch of injured people on the ground. I tried to help them.
“He was going so fast, it was 100 per cent deliberate.”
The Unite the Right rally was organised in protest at plans to remove a statue of Robert E Lee, a Confederate general during the Civil War. Many southern states have begun removing such statues, saying that leaders who fought for slavery should not be revered in the 21st century.
The demonstrators accuse local governments of trying to erase history by removing the statues and often chant “you will not replace us” as they rally around the statues. The city of Charlottesville had tried to get the protest moved to another park but the rally organisers sued and a judge ruled they must be allowed in Emancipation Park, where the Lee statue is. Shortly after 11am, an hour before the formal rally was due to begin, local authorities declared a state of emergency.
In a statement before her husband condemned the violence Melania Trump, the First Lady, said: “Our country encourages freedom of speech, but let’s communicate without hate in our hearts. No good comes from violence.”
David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, hailed the rally as a sign of Mr Trump’s success. “This represents a turning point for the people of this country,” he said. “We are determined to take our country back. We’re going to fulfil the promises of Donald Trump.”
As violence continued there were ugly scenes in a car park as protesters confronted a white nationalist marcher. In a stand-off, the marcher shouted: “This is my country.” A dozen nationalists in military fatigues, some heavily armed, stood nearby as protesters held signs saying “Nazis go home” and yelled at them to “put down the guns”.
At Emancipation Park a counter-protester said he had been attacked by a far-Right demonstrator. Caleb, 20, who asked not to give his second name, told The Telegraph: “I was trying to deny them entry to the park and the gentleman decided to hit me in the face with his flagpole.”
Some Republican politicians took to the airwaves to distance themselves from the white supremacists. Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, said: “The views fuelling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry.” Religious leaders gathered at the edge of the extremist rally to sing spiritual songs and call for unity. The chaos followed a smaller rally on Friday night, when hundreds of mainly white men carrying burning torches marched through the grounds of the University of Virginia.
‘I place the blame for a lot of what you are seeing in America today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president’