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White nationalist rally stopped in Virginia after factions clash


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White nationalist rally stopped in Virginia after factions clash

By Brandon Shulleeta

 

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A group of counter-protesters rally against members of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., August 12, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Reuters) - White nationalists clashed with counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, prompting the governor to declare an emergency and stop a rally to protest the planned removal of a Confederate general from a public park.

 

Fighting broke out in the city's downtown before noon when hundreds of people, some wearing white nationalist symbols and carrying Confederate battle flags, were confronted by a nearly equal number of counter-protesters. The clashes began the previous evening, resulting in at least one arrest.

 

Soon after the melee erupted, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in the city, home of the University of Virginia's flagship campus. The gathering was declared an "unlawful assembly," allowing police to disperse the protesters.

 

Many of the combatants on both sides wore helmets and held shields, and some in the crowd brandished wooden poles. Militia members in the city openly carried rifles, although no gunfire was reported.

 

"You will not erase us," chanted a crowd of white nationalists, while counter-protesters carried placards that read: "Nazi go home" and "Smash white supremacy."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump, on a working vacation at his New Jersey golf club, condemned the violence and urged Americans to "come together as one."

 

"We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for," Trump said in a message on Twitter.

 

After the crowd was dispersed, dozens of law enforcement officers clad in riot gear were seen patrolling the streets, with small clusters of protesters gathered in pockets in the surrounding streets.

 

Two people were injured in clashes on Saturday, Virginia State Police said on Twitter. Local law enforcement agencies could not be reached immediately for comment.

 

The clash unfolded ahead of the planned start of a "Unite the Right" rally that was expected to draw thousands of people who are angry at the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park.

 

Jason Kessler, a blogger who organized the rally, said in a phone interview that his group dispersed after police declared the assembly to be unlawful.

 

He blamed Charlottesville officials for cancelling the rally. Scheduled speakers, including white nationalist Richard Spencer, were not given police protection in the melee, he added.

 

"Our constitutional First Amendment rights were violated," Kessler said, declining to comment on whether his group would try to stage another rally in Charlottesville.

 

The incident highlights a persistent debate in the U.S. South over the display of the Confederate battle flag and other symbols of the rebel side in the Civil War, which was fought over the issue of slavery.

 

Supporters of removing statues such as the one of Robert E. Lee call them racially insensitive, while opponents say such moves reflect "empty political correctness" and that the Confederate symbols honor Southern heritage.

 

More broadly, the confrontation reflects growing political polarization that has intensified since Trump's election in November. The blunt-speaking Republican, who vowed to shake up Washington's political culture, has emboldened both sides of the divide, giving rise to more florid rhetoric and a steady wave of protests.

 

On Friday night, hundreds of white demonstrators holding flaming torches marched at the University of Virginia in a display that critics said was reminiscent of a Ku Klux Klan rally. Kessler, in an interview, denied the use of torches was tied to the notorious white supremacist group.

 

Eventually both sides threw punches and pushed each other as police moved in to break up the confrontation. At least one person was arrested on Friday, and several people were treated for minor injuries, the Daily Progress newspaper said.

 

"The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant," House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, said in a message on Twitter on Saturday. "Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry."

 

The National Guard is on standby, with Virginia State Police coordinating security in the city of 45,000, the governor said in a statement on Friday.

 

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-13

 

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9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for," Trump said in a message on Twitter.

That is quite rich, given the hateful and racist messages he gave out regularly during the election campaign, that stirred all the racists in the country up in the first place.

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5 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Car Mows Down Anti-Racism Protesters in Charlottesville; One Dead, Dozen Injured

A vehicle slammed into a crowd demonstrating against white supremacists at the University of Virginia, leaving multiple casualties.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/a-car-mowed-down-anti-racist-protesters-in-charlottesville-va

Trump condemned what he called "the hatred and bigotry on many sides"

If he can't even say "white supremacist violence" how's he going to defeat it?

 

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598fa1c1c1565_Screenshot2017-08-1212_37_32.thumb.png.67abf5771e7bb39de02af38e945fa901.png&key=21be7701c31117746a01ef3f4ef09b84e14af718cd5414bb66a44d53a67e6b6a

I sense a business opportunity, selling those WW2 German steel helmet style motorcycle crash helmets they have here

Just the headgear to go with the flags and the fatigues don't you think?

Certainly couldn't make them look any sillier...

 

 

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46 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Trump condemned what he called "the hatred and bigotry on many sides"

If he can't even say "white supremacist violence" how's he going to defeat it?

 

I am guessing this is going to be another one of those phrases like "radical Islamic Terrorism".

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Nazi flags and Confederate flags don't represent much in common.

 

Nazi symbolizes a regime which attacked neighboring countries in order to expand their 'empire.' 

 

Confederate forces wanted to break from the US in order to have their own separate state.

 

Much more can be said about both conflicts, but to conflate them, is off base.

 

BTW, if Confederate forces had won, their resultant 'country' would have abolished slavery in short order - as every other country ww did, during the 19th century.   

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No Western country  still had slave trading when the South went to war to retain it. If they had prevailed the arguement would have been their war dead would have died in vain if slavery was then abolished. 

 

As far as these Nazis go didn't the USA declare war on them in 1941? Can't they be shot on sight still?

Edited by pegman
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56 minutes ago, dcutman said:

I would have to lay the blame on this riot squarely on the the Charlottesville Police and city officials. Its not like this was a spur of the moment event.

 

Incorrect.

 

"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."

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/11/charlottesville-braces-itself-yet-another-white-nationalist-rally-saturday/560829001/

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12 minutes ago, pegman said:

No Western country  still had slave trading when the South went to war to retain it. If they had prevailed the arguement would have been their war dead would have died in vain if slavery was then abolished. 

 

As far as these Nazis go didn't the USA declare war on them in 1941? Can't they be shot on sight still?

Isn't Nazi representation legal in the US?

 

http://www.americannaziparty.com/

 

Edited by simple1
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The shutting down of right wing protests  reminds me of Thailand.  and how it is governed. Stifle any opposing views. America has the same fear of hearing the right as Thai leaders have of Thais hearing  about freedom of speech,democracy, etc.

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3 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

 

Incorrect.

 

"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."

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/11/charlottesville-braces-itself-yet-another-white-nationalist-rally-saturday/560829001/

The fact remains the police and city officials either completely cocked this event up or intentionally allowed these groups to come together with nothing to slow them down.

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19 minutes ago, pegman said:

No Western country  still had slave trading when the South went to war to retain it. If they had prevailed the arguement would have been their war dead would have died in vain if slavery was then abolished. 

As far as these Nazis go didn't the USA declare war on them in 1941? Can't they be shot on sight still?

Cuba and Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 20 yrs after the US civil war.  Again, I assert the South would have abolished slavery soon (possibly months) after winning, if they had won - as did every other country ww before or just after that war. 

 

The Rebels weren't fighting for a handful of rich slaveholders.  They were fighting to secede from the Union.  The idea that they were fighting to enable plantation slave-owners to keep their slaves, is mostly propaganda hyped by the northern states - to give impetus to the northern cause.   Armies are led by their generals, but the soldiers don't all concur with their generals' prejudices on everything. 

 

It applies to soldiers today.  That's why armies want soldiers who are are young and impressionable, and who will blindly follow orders, without thinking about whether the orders are reasonable or not.  

 

 

Edited by boomerangutang
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41 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

BTW, if Confederate forces had won, their resultant 'country' would have abolished slavery in short order - as every other country ww did, during the 19th century.   

Not only that but they would've heralded an era of peace, prosperity, tolerance the likes of which the world had never seen. 

 

If only the freedom-subjugating intolerant slavers had won the day! 

 

"They would've abolished slavery" - is that why the South perpetuated it in the form Jim Crow all they way till the 1960's until compelled to abolish it by federal law?

 

T

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1 minute ago, lovelomsak said:

The shutting down of right wing protests  reminds me of Thailand.  and how it is governed. Stifle any opposing views. America has the same fear of hearing the right as Thai leaders have of Thais hearing  about freedom of speech,democracy, etc.

Should the far right gain government power, they would of course permit dissent - LOL

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6 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Cuba and Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 20 yrs after the US civil war.  Again, I assert the South would have abolished slavery soon (possibly months) after winning, if they had won - as did every other country ww before or just after that war. 

 

They did not win but still turned it into this - until the late 20th century.

344302028_orig.jpg

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9 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Not only that but they would've heralded an era of peace, prosperity, tolerance the likes of which the world had never seen.  If only the freedom-subjugating intolerant slavers had won the day! 

"They would've abolished slavery" - is that why the South perpetuated it in the form Jim Crow all they way till the 1960's until compelled to abolish it by federal law? T

I don't back any sorts of discrimination.  Slavery is not the same as prejudice.  Prejudice can be found in every country on all sorts of levels - not least in Thailand or China, Saudi Arabia or the USA currently.

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16 minutes ago, Thakkar said:

Not only that but they would've heralded an era of peace, prosperity, tolerance the likes of which the world had never seen.  If only the freedom-subjugating intolerant slavers had won the day!  "They would've abolished slavery" - is that why the South perpetuated it in the form Jim Crow all they way till the 1960's until compelled to abolish it by federal law? T

Prejudice is nearly everywhere.  20 years ago, a black African man, visiting NYC, was taken to a police station for some petty crime, and then taken into a bathroom by two white cops and had the wooden handle of a plunger pumped in and out of his anus - he almost bled to death.  

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18 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Cuba and Brazil didn't abolish slavery until 20 yrs after the US civil war.  Again, I assert the South would have abolished slavery soon (possibly months) after winning, if they had won - as did every other country ww before or just after that war. 

 

The Rebels weren't fighting for a handful of rich slaveholders.  They were fighting to secede from the Union.  The idea that they were fighting to enable plantation slave-owners to keep their slaves, is mostly propaganda hyped by the northern states - to give impetus to the northern cause.   Armies are led by their generals, but the soldiers don't all concur with their generals' prejudices on everything. 

 

It applies to soldiers today.  That's why armies want soldiers who are are young and impressionable, and who will blindly follow orders, without thinking about whether the orders are reasonable or not.  

 

 

Here is some history that hopefully gives you a better understanding of this.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/what-this-cruel-war-was-over/396482/

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1 minute ago, boomerangutang said:

The difference between slavery and prejudice is the different between slugging someone in the chest and shooting them in the face.  Similar, but different.

With prejudice being a key factor in their minds to justify slavery.

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The image of cosmetic surgery gone bad.

David Duke, the former KKK grand wizard, is unambiguous about what Saturday’s alt-right and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, means to him: It’s the fulfillment of President Trump’s vision for America.

https://www.vox.com/2017/8/12/16138358/charlottesville-protests-david-duke-kkk



Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

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