US: Charlottesville on edge on anniversary of deadly white-nationalist rallies

More than 1,000 law enforcement officers are stationed around Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend, as the city marks a year since violent white supremacist rallies sparked a deadly attack and open fighting in the streets.

The racist provocateur who organized last year’s far-right rally has moved on to Washington, DC, where he has received a permit to stage a “white civil rights rally” on Sunday in front of the White House.

But residents of Charlottesville are still shaken and on guard. There are no official far-right protests planned in town this weekend, but the city’s downtown area has been closed to traffic, and the University of Virginia, where hundreds of white supremacists marched with flaming torches last year, is restricting access to parts of its campus. On Wednesday, Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency to help coordinate planning and response to the anniversary weekend.

The city is expecting large crowds to honor Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old killed when a car rammed into a packed street of counter-protesters in downtown Charlottesville on August 12 2017. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, started a foundation in her honor, which has given out scholarships and grants to a diverse group of young Americans working against hate. Nearly two dozen people were also injured in the attack, which officials said was carried out by a 21-year-old white man from Ohio who had demonstrated with the white supremacist groups. Two state troopers also died that day in a helicopter crash near Charlottesville.

In a dramatic change of tone from the previous year, when he said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence, President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he condemns “all types of racism and acts of violence”.

Local activists said that they were hoping for a quiet two days of memorials and remembrance. But white supremacist groups have staged multiple visits and flash protests around Charlottesville before and after last August’s violent rallies, locals are on edge. The legal battle over whether the town can remove statues of Confederate generals from two local parks is still ongoing.

Charlottesville’s intense security plan for the anniversary weekend has been greeted with mixed reactions from residents. During last year’s rallies, law enforcement officers stood by while white supremacists clashed with counter-protesters, a response that allowed the violence to spiral out of control, an independent investigation found. Some activists have criticized the plans for a heavy-handed police presence this year, while local business owners have also questioned whether it’s necessary to partially shut down the city for the weekend.

University of Virginia students will hold a rally for justice on Saturday night, on the anniversary of the white supremacist tiki-torch march through their campus. A group of clergy who organize against racism will hold a service of remembrance at the city’s First Presbyterian Church on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, thousands of counter-protesters are slated to attend multiple rallies against white supremacy in Washington, DC. The “white civil rights” anniversary rally organized by Kessler, a Charlottesville resident, is expected to attract no more than 100 to 400 people, according to the official permit for the event.

Kessler had applied for a permit to hold his anniversary rally in Charlottesville, and had sued the city when they denied him the permit, but he dropped his battle with the city in late July. Kessler said on Thursday that he would be in Washington on Saturday, as well, and that he did not know of any plans for other events in Charlottesville.

Many of the most prominent white supremacist leaders from last year’s rally have suffered setbacks in the past year, a result of forceful counter-protests, a series of lawsuits filed against different white supremacist leaders, movement feuds and infighting, and, in one case, prosecution for domestic violence.

The counter-protests in Washington have renewed the debate over whether small demonstrations of racist extremists should be ignored, or greeted with forceful public opposition. It has also fueled ongoing public debate over the media’s role in covering white supremacists groups.

National Public Radio faced wide criticism on Friday for running an interview with Kessler in which he recited white nationalist talking points and ranked the intelligence of different races on air.