WorthyNews:Violence Breaks Out As Alt-Right and Anti-Facist Protesters Collide Leaving One Dead, DOJ to Investigate

[WorthyNewsBot]

(Worthy News) - US federal investigators said Saturday they have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances that led a driver to plow a car into a crowd while white nationalist activists and counter-protesters clashed in Charlottesville.

The car ramming killed a 32-year-old woman and wounded 19 people, including some with life-threatening injuries.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the top law enforcement official in the country, said “the violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice.” [ Source (Read More...) ]

Virginia declares a state of emergency as alt-right supporters, counter-protesters clash

Virginia's governor has declared a state of emergency in response to a white nationalist rally that is expected to draw up to 6,000 people.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe said via his Twitter account on Saturday morning that the declaration was made in order "to aid state response to violence" at the rally in Charlottesville, about 100 miles outside of Washington, D.C.

The city's manager also declared a local emergency and police ordered people to disperse from the area around the statue after several violent clashes broke out.

Rally supporters and counter-protesters screamed, chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday morning. [ Source (Read More...) ]

What is ANTIFA? Anti-Fascism Protesters and White Power Groups were Battling Long Before Charlottesville

Groups such as Anti-Racist Action, Showing Up for Racial Justice and Black Lives Matter arrived in Charlottesville in force against the crowds of white neo-Nazis waving Confederate flags at the "Unite the Right" event. "The crash followed violent conflicts between far-right demonstrators, Antifascist (AntiFa) protesters, and police that resulted in tear gas canisters detonating in the streets amid scores of arrests and hospitalizations," the Southern Poverty Law Center said of Fields' attack in Virginia.

The incident marked the latest display of violence from Americans concerned about the potential spread of modern fascism under the Trump White House. It's unclear who or how many people are organizing the AntiFa movement. The secretive U.S. effort has been traced to militant leftist movements in Germany, Italy and Spain before World War II. Since the rise of President Donald Trump, who has openly attracted neo-Nazi supporters, Anti-Fa protesters have been linked to violent protests against the far-right. During Trump's inauguration, for example, police arrested more than 200 people after protesters dressed in black smashed local windows, set some cars on fire and attacked law enforcement officials on the streets of Washington, D.C. [ Source (Read More...) ]

Police in Charlottesville criticized for slow response to violent demonstrations

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia, came under criticism for failing to keep apart warring white nationalists and counter-protesters who battled it out in the city streets on Saturday amid what at first seemed an anemic response from authorities.

Anger over the how police responded came from all directions and intensified after the deaths of a woman struck by a car that plowed into a group of counter protesters. Experts said police appeared outnumbered, ill-prepared and inexperienced.

"The worst part is that people got hurt and the police stood by and didn't do a godd---- thing," said David Copper, 70, of Staunton, Va., after an initial morning melee at a park that when unchecked by police for several minutes. [ Source (Read More...) ]

After Charlottesville clashes Trump says violence ‘must stop right now’

President Trump called for unity Saturday in the wake of clashes between white supremacists and counter-protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, demanding “the division must stop, and must stop right now.”

“Ideally we have to love each other,” Mr. Trump said from his golf club in New Jersey, where he’s taking a working vacation, and was signing into law a veterans health bill.

Lawmakers from all sides of the political debate condemned the white nationalists who were rallying in Virginia, and most of them also condemned the counter-protests that combined for riots that reportedly left one person dead. [ Source (Read More...) ]

Fellow Republicans pressure Trump to forcefully and clearly condemn white nationalism

As the dust settled after Saturday’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, President Trump was stung by a political backlash from both sides, with leading Republicans condemning what they saw as a tepid response and a failure to call evil by its name.

After a counterprotester was killed when a car plowed into her and two Virginia state troopers died in a helicopter crash, the president had an opportunity to dispense fully with the notion that he welcomed the support of fringe right-wing groups, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Such charges have dogged Mr. Trump since the beginning of his presidential campaign, and his vice president used a trip to South America to push back against the charge. [ Source (Read More...) ]

Heather Heyer identified as woman killed at Charlottesville protest

The 32-year-old woman killed when a car drove into a crowd of people in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday is Heather Heyer, according to a GoFundMe account and multiple media reports.

Heyer was a paralegal from Virginia and police say she was killed when James Fields, 20 of Ohio, drove his Dodge Charger into a crowd of people following a white supremacist rally Saturday.

Heyer was there as a counter-protester. She was among 20 people who were taken to area hospitals following the crash and died from her injuries Saturday afternoon. [ Source (Read More...) ]

Federal judge allows 'alt-right' rally to go ahead as planned

A federal judge's ruling has cleared the way for the alt-right group "Unite the Right" and white nationalists to hold a rally in downtown Charlottesville, Va., Saturday near the endangered statue of Robert E. Lee over the objections of wary city authorities.

U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad ordered a preliminary injunction late Friday night in a lawsuit filed against the city by right-wing blogger Jason Kessler.

The rally is expected to draw white nationalists, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates and alt-right activists to Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park to protest the city’s vote to remove the statue of the Confederate general. [ Source (Read More...) ]

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