Neo Nazis, white supremacists and members of the so-call Alt-Right clashed with anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, Va. over the weekend following a white nationalist rally dubbed “Unite the Right.”
On Friday, a large group of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and members of the so-called Alt-Right marched through the University of Virginia campus to the school’s statue of founding father Thomas Jefferson, where they were met by a much smaller group of student counter-protesters, who were eventually surrounded.
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Punches were thrown and several people had to be treated for minor injuries, with police eventually breaking up the skirmish and arresting at least one person. The march was a lead-up to the planned “Unite the Right” rally, a protest against the impending removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, the latest in a growing and controversial movement to take down Confederate statues and monuments in various U.S. cities.
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Emancipation Park was called Lee Park until just two months ago, when Charlottesville city council voted to rename it. Jason Kessler, who organized the rally, actively campaigned against the renaming of the downtown park, telling WHLM radio that Lee was looked up to by white people who feel threatened by multiculturalism and “ethnic cleansing.”
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On Saturday the “Unite the Right” rally turned violent with between the white nationalist groups and counter-protesters. The violence claimed one life any many more suffered serious injuries.
Here’s a look at some of the photos from Charlottesville over the weekend.
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