A march attended by Antifa to commemorate the anniversary of last summer’s Charlottesville rally devolved into an anti-police protest on Saturday night.
Shortly before a pre-planned evening rally to mark the anniversary of a campus confrontation between torch-carrying white nationalists and counterprotesters, activists unfurled a banner that read, “Last year they came w/ torches. This year they come w/ badges.”
“Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see no riot here,” Antifa members chanted Saturday evening.
Footage of the march is circulating on social media.
A group of more than 200 protesters — students, residents, and others — then marched to another part of the University of Virginia’s campus, where many in the crowd shouted at officers in riot gear who had formed a line.
Kibiriti Majuto, a coordinator for UVA Students United, said the students moved to another part of campus because they didn’t want to be “caged” in the area where the rally had been planned. “How does that create a sense of community? How are we going to be safe in that situation?” he asked.
Majuto said police “were not on our side” last year when white supremacists surrounded counterprotesters on the rotunda. “Cops and Klan go hand in hand!” he chanted.
Charlottesville city councilman Wes Bellamy said he tried to diffuse the situation and told the police commander that the students were upset by the officers’ tactics, calling the officers’ riot gear “over the top.” After a few minutes, most of the demonstrators began to walk away. There were no immediate reports of arrests on campus.
Subsequent to the UVA rally, a group of dozens of demonstrators marched off campus through other parts of the city, chanting things like, “Whose streets? Our streets,” and “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” The group made its way to downtown before dispersing.
During the march, NBC correspondent Cal Perry was confronted by an unidentified man shouting “F*ck you, snitch a*s news bitch. F*ck you,” as he grabbed the reporter’s camera.
Moments earlier, Perry said he was verbally accosted numerous times, adding that protesters were attempting to “grab our camera.”
Last year, hundreds of white nationalists — including neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members — descended on Charlottesville in part to protest the city’s decision to remove a monument to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a park. Violent fighting broke out between attendees and counterprotesters that day. Authorities eventually forced the crowd to disperse, but a car later barreled into a crowd of peaceful counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. The day’s death toll rose to three when a state police helicopter that had been monitoring the event and assisting with the governor’s motorcade crashed, killing two troopers.
Lisa Woolfork, a University of Virginia professor and Black Lives Matter Charlottesville organizer, said police are mounting a “huge, overwhelming show of force to compensate for last year’s inaction.”
“Last year, I was afraid of the Nazis. This year, I’m afraid of the police,” Woolfork fumed. “This is not making anyone that I know feel safe.”
Antifa’s counter-protest website shutitdowndc.org is calling on members to “mass,” mobilize against white nationalist groups at Freedom Plaza, close by to where the Unite the Right 2 rally will be held.
“This is for Heather Heyer, ICE abolition, open borders, dismantling the prison industrial complex, and ending the settler colonial system,” the website description reads. “We will confront fascism, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, white supremacy, and state violence on August 10-12.”
Homeland Security “formally classified” activities of the far-left group as “domestic terrorist violence” as early as April 2016. In July, Breitbart News’s John Nolte reported:
Antifa is “freaking out” over a proposed bill that would enhance penalties for individuals who “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” while wearing a mask.
Throughout our country, and for a number of years now — and primarily because the establishment media fantasizes about, promotes, enflames and approves of the violence committed against the right (naturally, HuffPo opposes the unmasking law) — Antifa has been allowed to run rampant, committing countless acts of violence against everyday, peaceful supporters of President Donald Trump.
Antifa has also been responsible for untold amounts of vandalism and property damage, and targets the alt-right.
The Unmasking Antifa Act of 2018 can mean additional fines and prison terms of up to 15 years. The Hill reports the “bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Dan Donovan (N.Y.) and is co-sponsored by GOP Reps. Pete King (R-NY), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Ted Budd (R-NC).”
Additional events marking the anniversary of Heyer’s death are also expected Sunday in both Charlottesville and Washington, D.C. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, said in an interview with the Associated Press that she has been dreading the anniversary of her daughter’s death for months. Bro likened losing a child to standing in shallow water as waves roll continually in. “You let the wave wash over, and you don’t chase it. You let it go and you’re OK until the next one comes,” she said. “But today, I feel like high tide is in.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.