Sunday, 8 October 2017

White supremacists just marched in Charlottesville again

White supremacists just marched in Charlottesville again

White supremacists have rallied in Charlottesville again, less than two months since a counter-protester was killed in the same spot. A few dozen neo-Nazi marchers, led by alt-right figure Richard Spencer and carrying flaming torches, gathered at Emancipation Park near a covered statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Spencer is most well known for being punched in the face following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. The Confederates lost the US Civil War in the mid-19th century, which broke out over the proposed abolition of slavery. The Confederate states, in the south, supported the enslavement of black people.

The removal of Robert E. Lee’s statue has been blocked by a court pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

On Saturday, Spencer posted a video of the march on Twitter, showing people chanting ‘you will not replace us’ and ‘we will be back’. Charlottesville’s Mayor Mike Signer fired off an angry response on Twitter – telling Spencer and the other protesters to ‘go home’. ‘Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards,’ he wrote. ‘You’re not welcome here! Go home! Meantime we’re looking at all our legal options. Stay tuned.’

An August rally organized by white nationalists to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue turned deadly when counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed by someone driving a car into the crowd. Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, issued a statement on Saturday saying: ‘There is no home, no place and no safe harbour in this country I pledged to defend for the ugly hatred we saw in Charlottesville tonight.

‘I don’t see two sides or very fine people gathered here, and anyone unwilling to call out this evil fails our commonwealth. ‘Donald Trump’s equivocation enabled this to happen again, and Ed Gillespie failed to call on the leader of his party to denounce neo-Nazis and white supremacists. ‘There can be no ambiguity from any elected official: white supremacists are not welcome, and they will not win.’

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