White Nationalists Reappear in Charlottesville in Torch-Lit Protest
The prominent white supremacist Richard B. Spencer was a featured speaker at a rally on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., where demonstrators reprised their chant of “You will not replace us!” and asserted that the South would “rise again.”
The gathering, which occurred eight weeks
after a “Unite the Right” rally resulted in the
death of a 32-year-old woman, was considerably smaller than the one in August, instead resembling a
group of protesters who descended on the park in May.
The Charlottesville Police Department said in a statement that Saturday’s rally began around 7:40 p.m., included 40 to 50 people and lasted no more than 10 minutes.
“No disorders occurred during this rally,” the police said. Mr. Spencer then boarded a bus, which was followed by police officers “to ensure that the group was leaving the city,” according to the statement.
It added, “Our department is conferring with city leadership and the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to determine what legal action may be taken in response to this event.”
On Twitter, Mayor Mike Signer of Charlottesville urged the demonstrators to “Go home!”
“Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards,” Mr. Signer tweeted on Saturday night. “You’re not welcome here!”
His comments drew fire from supporters of the protesters on Twitter. On Sunday morning, Mr. Signer wrote that “if you want to see the alt-right in action, check out my feed,” adding, “But brace yourself, it’s ugly.”
A
video posted by Mr. Spencer showed dozens of people — mostly men in white collared shirts — marching with lit torches through downtown Charlottesville toward Emancipation Park, where a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee remained under a tarp while it awaits removal.
The video also showed that the demonstrators chanted and listened to brief speeches before leaving the park.
“We got in and out, there were no injuries, no major confrontations,” Mr. Spencer said in another video posted on Twitter. “We came in peace tonight. It was a great success, and we’re going to do it again.”
Mr. Spencer also sent one seemingly sarcastic tweet to Mr. Signer, saying, “It was great to be back” and inviting him to “catch up next time we’re in town.”
The governor of Virginia,
Terry McAuliffe, said on Twitter that officials were “monitoring this situation” and would “oppose these racists and their message of hate.”
Charlottesville has become a popular place for members of the alt-right, a fringe movement that embraces white nationalism and a range of racist positions, to gather because of controversy surrounding the Lee statue. In addition to the white nationalist rallies,
members of the Ku Klux Klan rallied in Charlottesville in July to protest the statue’s removal.
The City Council voted narrowly in April to remove the statue of Lee. But in May, a Circuit Court judge issued
a six-month injunction to halt its removal after a collection of individuals and groups — including the Virginia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans — filed a lawsuit against the city.
