White Nationalists March on University of Virginia
Thousands of people — many from out of town — are expected to descend on the city to either protest or participate in a “Unite the Right” rally
on Saturday convened by white nationalists who oppose a plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, from a city park.
City officials and the police said they were prepared for possible unrest; the Virginia National Guard put out a statement saying it would “closely monitor the situation.” Mayor Mike Signer said in an interview on Friday
that he had been consulting with fellow mayors, seeking advice on how to “be prepared to make sure people can assemble and express themselves freely.”
Religious leaders who are planning counterdemonstrations — including a sunrise prayer service featuring Cornel West, the Harvard professor
and political activist — have been training in nonviolent protest.
The fight over the Lee statue — in a downtown park
that was called Lee Park until it was recently renamed Emancipation Park — has opened up old wounds and brought simmering tensions over race to the fore.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A month after a Ku Klux Klan rally here ended with the police using tear gas on protesters, Charlottesville is bracing for a weekend of white nationalist demonstrations
and counterprotests, and suddenly this tranquil college town feels like a city under siege.
Mr. Kessler, who organized the event on Saturday and calls himself a “white advocate,” said in an interview
that his goal was to “de-stigmatize white advocacy so that white people can stand up for their interests just like any other identity group.”
In the run-up to Saturday, there has been confusion over where, precisely, the Unite the Right rally will take place.