Charlottesville, Virginia (CNN) [Breaking news update, published at 12:10 p.m. ET]
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has declared a state of emergency “to aid state response to violence” ahead of Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, according to a post on his Twitter account.
[Breaking news update, published at 11:57 p.m ET]
The city of Charlottesville has declared Saturday’s gathering at Emancipation Park — site of the scheduled “Unite the Right” rally” of white nationalists and right-wing protesters — an unlawful assembly. Police officers are speaking on bullhorns, directing people to leave the park.
CNN video shows police in riot gear standing shoulder to shoulder behind their shields. Some people appear to be leaving the park.
[Original story, published at 11:46 p.m ET]
Demonstrators clashed Saturday on the streets of Charlottesville ahead of a “Unite the Right” rally as white nationalists and other right-wing groups — and counter-protesters — converged in this college town in the latest flare-up of a running nation debate over the country’s identity.
Fist fights and screaming matches erupted before the rally, which police expect to attract thousands of people. The skirmishes unfolded just hours after a scuffle Friday night between torch-bearing demonstrators and counter-protesters at the nearby University of Virginia.
Saturday’s rally is the latest event drawing white nationalists and right-wing activists from across the country to this Democratic-voting college town — a development first precipitated by the city’s decision to remove symbols of its Confederate past.
Demonstrators stand ahead of a “Unite the Right” rally Saturday morning in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Though the rally is scheduled for noon ET, hundreds had gathered by mid-morning on Charlottesville’s streets and at a city park.
Shortly before noon, city officials signaled they might move to break it up, declaring it an “unlawful assembly” on Twitter. A local emergency also was declared.
At one point, a few dozen white men wearing helmets and holding makeshift shields chanted, “Blood and soil!” Nearby, a group of clergy and other counter-demonstrators, including activist and Harvard professor Cornel West, held hands, prayed and sang. “This Little Light of Mine.”
Police presence was heavy on this overcast day, with more than 1,000 officers expected to be deployed, city officials said.
Counter-protesters gather in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday morning ahead of a “Unite the Right” rally.
Police anticipate the rally will attract as many as 2,000 to 6,000 people and could be the “largest hate-gathering of its kind in decades in the United States,” as described by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Friday clashes in a city attracting far-right activists
Charlottesville, once home to Thomas Jefferson, is known as a progressive city of about 47,000 people. Eighty percent of its voters choose Hillary Clinton during last year’s election.
But far-right activists and Ku Klux Klan members have come here in recent months, outraged by the city’s intention to remove traces of its links to the Confederacy — including plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The move follows efforts by communities across the South to remove Confederate iconography from public property since the 2015 rampage killings of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a self-described white supremacist.
Ahead of Saturday’s rally, tensions roiled Friday night as white nationalists — some holding what appeared to be backyard tiki-style torches — marched onto the University of Virginia’s campus.
Chanting, “Blood and soil” and “You will not replace us,” the group rallied around a statue of Thomas Jefferson before they clashed with counter-protesters, CNN affiliate WWBT reported. The group left the university’s grounds when police arrived and declared the gathering an unlawful assembly.
City and UVA officials condemned Friday’s march.
“In my 47 years of association with @UVA, this was the most nauseating thing I’ve ever seen. We need an exorcism on the Lawn,” Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics tweeted.
In my 47 years of association with @UVA, this was the most nauseating thing I’ve ever seen. We need an exorcism on the Lawn.— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) August 12, 2017
Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer released a statement referring to Friday’s rally as a “cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance march down the lawns of the architect of our Bill of Rights.”
“Everyone has a right under the First Amendment to express their opinion peaceably, so here’s mine: not only as the Mayor of Charlottesville, but as a UVA faculty member and alumnus, I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of visual intimidation on a college campus,” he added.
