Unite the Right 2 rally in Lafayette Square across the street from the White House confronted by large number of counter protesters in Washington
WASHINGTON, U. S. – Anyone who witnessed the chilling sight of America’s racial divide rearing its ugly head in Charlottesville, Virginia last year, had been dreading the day that the events would be recalled and relived.
When the day arrived, thousands poured into the scenic college town, to mark the anniversary of the deadly gathering of white supremacists, with a rally against racial hatred.
In Charlottesville, as anti-racism demonstrators held an impromptu memorial service at the site on 4th Street, where a local 32-year-old woman Heather Heyer was mowed down by an alleged Nazi sympathizer on August 12 last year – in Washington, the stage was set for a battle of beliefs.
On Sunday morning, all eyes across the nation were trained on Washington, where Jason Kessler, the main organizer of last year’s ‘Unite the Right’ event had planned to hold Version 2 of his rally.
Kessler initially planned to stage a similar anniversary event in Charlottesville to mark a year since a group of white supremacists gathered under his ‘Unite the Right’ banner, wielding flaming tiki torches, and marched across the grounds of the University of Virginia.
The group even intimidated and beat up a group of about 30 counter protesters, mostly UVA students, only to return the following day – April 12,2017, for the much bigger rally, which saw the White supremacists being confronted by counter-protesters, before the 20-year-old Ohio man, James Fields, drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters, killing Heyer.
However, after abandoning his bid to stage the rally in Charlottesville, he decided on hosting the contentious event in the nation’s capital.
However, on Sunday, with Kessler’s ‘Unite the Right 2’ event scheduled to take place in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House at 5.30 pm – large groups of counter protesters from all parts of the country began gathering across Lafayette Park hours ahead of the ‘Unite The Right 2’ rally, in a bid to eclipse the white supremacists’ rally.
The National Park Service permits revealed that Unite the Right was expecting around 400 demonstrators, however, there were five other permits that showed nearly ten times that number could show up on the side of the counter protesters.
Counter protesters had planned an afternoon program of music, speeches and poetry readings at Freedom Plaza, east of the White House and the first rally, ‘Still Here, Still Strong’ started at 12 pm in Freedom Plaza.
With authorities promising an enormous police presence to keep both sides apart and avoid the street brawls – the first arrest of the day was made at the Vienna Metro Station.
With some white supremacists, including Kessler expected to board trains to take them into the city from the Washington suburban metro station of Vienna, Virginia, several counter protesters reportedly gathered near the station.
Counter protesters waved signs that read ‘No Hate’ “Nazis go home” and “Shut it down.”
Police in riot gear arrived immediately and used vehicles and traffic cones to seal off the station’s parking lot.
About 40 officers in ballistic vests have reportedly being deployed there.
One person was reportedly arrested at the scene.
Speaking to local reporters at the station, Paul Wiedefeld, chief executive of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the metro, said that a “full-blown security operation was in effect to avert the kind of violence that erupted in Charlottesville last year.”
He said, “It’s all hands on deck.”
Meanwhile, speaking to the media outside the Vienna Station, Kessler said, “We have been the victims of draconian censorship across social media.”
He claimed that his supporters are being attacked, and some of them have had their cars vandalized and have received threats.
Others set to participate in the ‘Unite The Right 2’ rally wore skull bandannas around their mouths and were seen carrying American flags.
All eyes on Lafayette Square
As the size of rallies being staged by counter protesters around Lafayette Park swelled through the day, hundreds of white supremacists, along wth Kessler and his entourage gathered in the capital.
Demonstrators participating in the white nationalist rally marched through the heart of Washington, with a strict police cordon in place and a much higher number of counter protesters taunting them as they passed by.
Kessler has stated that demonstrators at his ‘Unit the Right 2’ rally this year will march to “stand up for free speech, which has really been in danger over the last year since Charlottesville.”
