Leroy N. Soetoro
2017-08-12 21:20:48 UTC
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fights-in-advance-of-saturday-
protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-
5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.1a8955d55458
CHARLOTTESVILLE A chaotic and violent day turned to tragedy Saturday as
hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members planning
to stage what they described as their largest rally in decades to take
America back clashed with counterprotesters in the streets and a car
plowed into crowds, killing one person and injuring 19 others.
Angela Taylor, a spokeswoman for UVA Medical Center, said 20 people were
brought to the hospital in the early afternoon after three cars collided
in a pedestrian mall packed with people. One died, she said, although she
could not say if it was a man or woman or give any identifying
information. Another 15 people were injured during street brawls, city
officials said.
Earlier, police had evacuated a downtown park as rallygoers and
counterprotesters traded blows and hurled bottles and chemical irritants
at one another, putting an end to the noon rally before it even began.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency shortly before 11 a.m.,
saying he was disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence and blaming
mostly out-of-state protesters.
Despite the decision to quash the rally, clashes continued on side streets
and throughout the downtown. In the early afternoon, three cars collided
in a pedestrian mall at Water and Fourth Streets, sending bystanders
running and screaming. It was unclear if it was accidental or intentional.
I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here, said Charlottesville
Mayor Michael Signer in a tweet. I urge all people of good will--go
home.
Elected leaders in Virginia and elsewhere urged peace, blasting the white
supremacist views on display in Charlottesville as ugly. U.S. House
Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called their display repugnant.
But President Trump, known for the rapid-fire tweets, remained silent
throughout the morning. It was after 1 p.m. when he weighed in, writing on
Twitter: We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There
is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as
one!
At a late-afternoon news conference to discuss veterans health care,
Trump said that he was following the events in Charlottesville closely.
The hate and the division must stop and must stop right now, Trump said,
without specifically mentioning white nationalists or their views. We
condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred,
bigotry, and violence on many sides. On many sides, he said.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a Trump supporter who was in
Charlottesville Saturday, quickly shot back at the president. So, after
decades of White Americans being targeted for discriminated & anti-White
hatred, we come together as a people, and you attack us? Duke tweeted. I
would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White
Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists.
Dozens of the white nationalists in Charlottesville were wearing red Make
America Great Again hats. Asked by a reporter in New Jersey whether he
wanted the support of white nationalists, Trump did not respond.
By early afternoon, hundreds of rallygoers had made their way from
Emancipation Park where they had expected to protest the planned removal
of a Confederate statue to a larger park two miles to the north. Duke,
speaking to the crowd, called Saturdays events the first step toward
taking America back.
The truth is European Americans face tremendous discrimination in this
country jobs, scholarships, promotions, Duke said. The truth is we are
being ethnically cleansed within our own nation.
White nationalist leader Richard Spencer also addressed the group, urging
people to disperse. But he promised that they would gather again for a
future demonstration, blaming Saturdays violence on counterprotesters.
Even as crowds began to thin, the town remained unsettled and on edge.
Onlookers were deeply shaken at the pedestrian mall, where ambulances had
arrived to treat victims of the car crash.
Susie McClannahan, 24, said counterprotesters were marching on Fourth
Street when she saw a silver gray vehicle drive through the crowd, and
then immediately shift into reverse in what she described as full speed.
Everyone was in shock and all of a sudden we heard people scream get to
the wall because the driver was backing up, McClannahan said. She said
those closest to the accident ran to those injured in the street.
I didnt want to believe it was real. It was just so horrible, she said.
Hunter Harmon, 20, saw people flung in the air after they were hit by a
car and he heard others screaming.
We were marching and next to each other and all of a sudden I just heard
a bunch of bangs and I saw a bunch of people flying through the air and
people injured on the ground, Harmon said.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police said there
were multiple injuries ranging from life threatening to minor. There were
at least three vehicles involved; one left the scene and has been located,
Geller said.
[Decades before Charlottesville, the Ku Klux Klan was dead. The first
Hollywood blockbuster revived it.]
Earlier Saturday, men in combat gear some wearing bicycle and motorcycle
helmets and carrying clubs and sticks and makeshift shields had fought
each other in the downtown streets, with little apparent police
interference. Both sides sprayed each other with chemical irritants and
plastic bottles were hurled through the air.
A large contingent of Charlottesville police officers and Virginia State
Police troopers in riot gear were stationed on side streets and at nearby
barricades but did nothing to break up the melee until around 11:40 a.m.
Using megaphones, police declared an unlawful assembly and gave a five-
minute warning to leave Emancipation Park, They were met by equal numbers
of counterprotesters, including clergy, Black Lives Matter activists and
Princeton professor Cornel West.
The worst part is that people got hurt and the police stood by and didnt
do a goddamn thing, said David Copper, 70, of Staunton, Va.
State Del. David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), minority leader of
Virginias House, praised the response by Charlottesville and state
police.
Things were getting out of hand in the skirmishes between the alt-right
and what I would describe as the outside agitators who wanted to encourage
violence, Toscano said.
Asked why police did not act sooner to intervene as violence unfolded,
Toscano said he could not comment. But they trained very hard for this and
it might have been that they were waiting for a more effective time to get
people out of Emancipation Park, he said.
A group of three dozen self-described militia men, who were wearing full
camouflage and were armed with long guns, said they were there to help
keep the peace, but they also did not break up the fights.
There were vicious clashes on Market Street in front of Emancipation Park,
where the rally was to begin at noon. A large contingent of white
nationalist rallygoers holding shields and swinging wooden clubs rushed
through a line of counterprotesters.
By 11 a.m., several fully armed militias and hundreds of right-wing
rallygoers had poured into the small downtown park that was to be the site
of the rally.
Counterprotesters held Black Lives Matter signs and placards expressing
support for equality and love as they faced rallygoers who waved
Confederate flags and posters that said the Goyim know, referring to
non-Jewish people, and the Jewish media is going down.
No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA! the counterprotesters chanted.
Too late, f-----s! a man yelled back at them.
Naundi Cook, 23, said she was scared during the morning protests. Cook,
who is black, said she came to support her people, but shes never seen
something like this before.
When violence broke out, she started shaking and got goose bumps.
Ive seen people walking around with tear gas all over their face all
over their clothes. People getting maced, fighting, she said. I didnt
want to be next.
Cook said she couldnt sit back and watch white nationalists descend on
her town. She has a three-year-old daughter to stand up for, she said.
Right now, Im not sad, she said once the protests dispersed. Im a
little more empowered. All these people and support, I feel like were on
top right now because of all the support that we have.
After police ordered everyone to vacate the park, columns of white
nationalists marched out, carrying Confederate and Nazi flags as they
headed down Market Street in an odd parade. Counterprotesters lined the
sidewalks and shouted epithets and mocked the group as they walked by. At
various points along the route, skirmishes broke out and shouting matches
ensued.
Charlottesville officials, concerned about crowds and safety issues, had
tried to move the rally to a larger park away from the citys downtown.
But Jason Kessler, the rallys organizer, filed a successful lawsuit
against the city that was supported by the Virginia ACLU, saying that his
First Amendment rights would be violated by moving the rally.
Tensions began Friday night, as several hundred white supremacists chanted
White lives matter! You will not replace us! and Jews will not
replace us! as they carried torches marched in a parade through the
University of Virginia campus.
The fast-paced march was made up almost exclusively of men in their 20s
and 30s, though there were some who looked to be in their midteens.
Meanwhile, hundreds of counterprotesters packed a church to pray and
organize. A small group of counterprotesters clashed with the marchers
shortly before 10 p.m. at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson, U-Va.
s founder.
One counterprotester apparently deployed a chemical spray, which affected
the eyes of a dozen or so marchers. It left them floundering and seeking
medical assistance.
Police officers who had been keeping a wary eye on the march jumped in and
broke up the fights. The marchers then disbanded, though several remained
and were treated by police and medical personnel for the effects of the
mace attack. It was not clear if any one was arrested.
Saturdays Unite the Right rally was being held to protest the planned
removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The city of
Charlottesville voted to remove the statue earlier this year, but it
remains in the Emacipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, pending a
judges ruling expected later this month.
Saturday marked the second time in six weeks that Charlottesville has
faced a protest from white supremacist groups for its decision to remove
the statue. On July 8, about three dozen members of a regional Ku Klux
Klan group protested in the city.
The torchlight parade drew sharp condemnations from Charlottesville Mayor
Mike Signer and U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan.
Sullivan described herself as deeply saddened and disturbed by the
hateful behaviorshown by the marchers.
Signer said he was beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable
display of visual intimidation on a college campus. He called the
chanting procession a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and
intolerance.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-
5bd5460f0d7e_story.html?utm_term=.1a8955d55458
CHARLOTTESVILLE A chaotic and violent day turned to tragedy Saturday as
hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members planning
to stage what they described as their largest rally in decades to take
America back clashed with counterprotesters in the streets and a car
plowed into crowds, killing one person and injuring 19 others.
Angela Taylor, a spokeswoman for UVA Medical Center, said 20 people were
brought to the hospital in the early afternoon after three cars collided
in a pedestrian mall packed with people. One died, she said, although she
could not say if it was a man or woman or give any identifying
information. Another 15 people were injured during street brawls, city
officials said.
Earlier, police had evacuated a downtown park as rallygoers and
counterprotesters traded blows and hurled bottles and chemical irritants
at one another, putting an end to the noon rally before it even began.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency shortly before 11 a.m.,
saying he was disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence and blaming
mostly out-of-state protesters.
Despite the decision to quash the rally, clashes continued on side streets
and throughout the downtown. In the early afternoon, three cars collided
in a pedestrian mall at Water and Fourth Streets, sending bystanders
running and screaming. It was unclear if it was accidental or intentional.
I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here, said Charlottesville
Mayor Michael Signer in a tweet. I urge all people of good will--go
home.
Elected leaders in Virginia and elsewhere urged peace, blasting the white
supremacist views on display in Charlottesville as ugly. U.S. House
Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) called their display repugnant.
But President Trump, known for the rapid-fire tweets, remained silent
throughout the morning. It was after 1 p.m. when he weighed in, writing on
Twitter: We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There
is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as
one!
At a late-afternoon news conference to discuss veterans health care,
Trump said that he was following the events in Charlottesville closely.
The hate and the division must stop and must stop right now, Trump said,
without specifically mentioning white nationalists or their views. We
condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred,
bigotry, and violence on many sides. On many sides, he said.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a Trump supporter who was in
Charlottesville Saturday, quickly shot back at the president. So, after
decades of White Americans being targeted for discriminated & anti-White
hatred, we come together as a people, and you attack us? Duke tweeted. I
would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White
Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists.
Dozens of the white nationalists in Charlottesville were wearing red Make
America Great Again hats. Asked by a reporter in New Jersey whether he
wanted the support of white nationalists, Trump did not respond.
By early afternoon, hundreds of rallygoers had made their way from
Emancipation Park where they had expected to protest the planned removal
of a Confederate statue to a larger park two miles to the north. Duke,
speaking to the crowd, called Saturdays events the first step toward
taking America back.
The truth is European Americans face tremendous discrimination in this
country jobs, scholarships, promotions, Duke said. The truth is we are
being ethnically cleansed within our own nation.
White nationalist leader Richard Spencer also addressed the group, urging
people to disperse. But he promised that they would gather again for a
future demonstration, blaming Saturdays violence on counterprotesters.
Even as crowds began to thin, the town remained unsettled and on edge.
Onlookers were deeply shaken at the pedestrian mall, where ambulances had
arrived to treat victims of the car crash.
Susie McClannahan, 24, said counterprotesters were marching on Fourth
Street when she saw a silver gray vehicle drive through the crowd, and
then immediately shift into reverse in what she described as full speed.
Everyone was in shock and all of a sudden we heard people scream get to
the wall because the driver was backing up, McClannahan said. She said
those closest to the accident ran to those injured in the street.
I didnt want to believe it was real. It was just so horrible, she said.
Hunter Harmon, 20, saw people flung in the air after they were hit by a
car and he heard others screaming.
We were marching and next to each other and all of a sudden I just heard
a bunch of bangs and I saw a bunch of people flying through the air and
people injured on the ground, Harmon said.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police said there
were multiple injuries ranging from life threatening to minor. There were
at least three vehicles involved; one left the scene and has been located,
Geller said.
[Decades before Charlottesville, the Ku Klux Klan was dead. The first
Hollywood blockbuster revived it.]
Earlier Saturday, men in combat gear some wearing bicycle and motorcycle
helmets and carrying clubs and sticks and makeshift shields had fought
each other in the downtown streets, with little apparent police
interference. Both sides sprayed each other with chemical irritants and
plastic bottles were hurled through the air.
A large contingent of Charlottesville police officers and Virginia State
Police troopers in riot gear were stationed on side streets and at nearby
barricades but did nothing to break up the melee until around 11:40 a.m.
Using megaphones, police declared an unlawful assembly and gave a five-
minute warning to leave Emancipation Park, They were met by equal numbers
of counterprotesters, including clergy, Black Lives Matter activists and
Princeton professor Cornel West.
The worst part is that people got hurt and the police stood by and didnt
do a goddamn thing, said David Copper, 70, of Staunton, Va.
State Del. David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), minority leader of
Virginias House, praised the response by Charlottesville and state
police.
Things were getting out of hand in the skirmishes between the alt-right
and what I would describe as the outside agitators who wanted to encourage
violence, Toscano said.
Asked why police did not act sooner to intervene as violence unfolded,
Toscano said he could not comment. But they trained very hard for this and
it might have been that they were waiting for a more effective time to get
people out of Emancipation Park, he said.
A group of three dozen self-described militia men, who were wearing full
camouflage and were armed with long guns, said they were there to help
keep the peace, but they also did not break up the fights.
There were vicious clashes on Market Street in front of Emancipation Park,
where the rally was to begin at noon. A large contingent of white
nationalist rallygoers holding shields and swinging wooden clubs rushed
through a line of counterprotesters.
By 11 a.m., several fully armed militias and hundreds of right-wing
rallygoers had poured into the small downtown park that was to be the site
of the rally.
Counterprotesters held Black Lives Matter signs and placards expressing
support for equality and love as they faced rallygoers who waved
Confederate flags and posters that said the Goyim know, referring to
non-Jewish people, and the Jewish media is going down.
No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA! the counterprotesters chanted.
Too late, f-----s! a man yelled back at them.
Naundi Cook, 23, said she was scared during the morning protests. Cook,
who is black, said she came to support her people, but shes never seen
something like this before.
When violence broke out, she started shaking and got goose bumps.
Ive seen people walking around with tear gas all over their face all
over their clothes. People getting maced, fighting, she said. I didnt
want to be next.
Cook said she couldnt sit back and watch white nationalists descend on
her town. She has a three-year-old daughter to stand up for, she said.
Right now, Im not sad, she said once the protests dispersed. Im a
little more empowered. All these people and support, I feel like were on
top right now because of all the support that we have.
After police ordered everyone to vacate the park, columns of white
nationalists marched out, carrying Confederate and Nazi flags as they
headed down Market Street in an odd parade. Counterprotesters lined the
sidewalks and shouted epithets and mocked the group as they walked by. At
various points along the route, skirmishes broke out and shouting matches
ensued.
Charlottesville officials, concerned about crowds and safety issues, had
tried to move the rally to a larger park away from the citys downtown.
But Jason Kessler, the rallys organizer, filed a successful lawsuit
against the city that was supported by the Virginia ACLU, saying that his
First Amendment rights would be violated by moving the rally.
Tensions began Friday night, as several hundred white supremacists chanted
White lives matter! You will not replace us! and Jews will not
replace us! as they carried torches marched in a parade through the
University of Virginia campus.
The fast-paced march was made up almost exclusively of men in their 20s
and 30s, though there were some who looked to be in their midteens.
Meanwhile, hundreds of counterprotesters packed a church to pray and
organize. A small group of counterprotesters clashed with the marchers
shortly before 10 p.m. at the base of a statue of Thomas Jefferson, U-Va.
s founder.
One counterprotester apparently deployed a chemical spray, which affected
the eyes of a dozen or so marchers. It left them floundering and seeking
medical assistance.
Police officers who had been keeping a wary eye on the march jumped in and
broke up the fights. The marchers then disbanded, though several remained
and were treated by police and medical personnel for the effects of the
mace attack. It was not clear if any one was arrested.
Saturdays Unite the Right rally was being held to protest the planned
removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The city of
Charlottesville voted to remove the statue earlier this year, but it
remains in the Emacipation Park, formerly known as Lee Park, pending a
judges ruling expected later this month.
Saturday marked the second time in six weeks that Charlottesville has
faced a protest from white supremacist groups for its decision to remove
the statue. On July 8, about three dozen members of a regional Ku Klux
Klan group protested in the city.
The torchlight parade drew sharp condemnations from Charlottesville Mayor
Mike Signer and U-Va. President Teresa Sullivan.
Sullivan described herself as deeply saddened and disturbed by the
hateful behaviorshown by the marchers.
Signer said he was beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable
display of visual intimidation on a college campus. He called the
chanting procession a cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and
intolerance.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.