A planned Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, drew nationwide attention as neo-Nazis with torches marched on the University of Virginia campus Friday night and officials called for a state of emergency amid protests Saturday morning.
Many Unite the Right protesters wore white nationalist and Nazi paraphernalia, a militia arrived armed with heavy weaponry and some individuals wore Ku Klux Klan imagery. Former KKK leader David Duke attended.
Counter-protesters were out in force, too, chanting progressive slogans and singing civil rights-era songs.
Police called the protest an unlawful gathering and attempted to disburse the white nationalists and counter protesters from a central location. Both sides began to march throughout Charlottesville, despite skirmishes and the use of tear gas.The rally was ostensibly a protest against removing a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville park. From its original base of right-wing “patriot” groups, the rally started drawing a growing number of neo-Nazis — and become a flashpoint for a resurgent, outspoken white nationalism that drew strength from the campaign and presidency of Donald Trump.
