The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances under which a vehicle plowed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally held Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia.
One person, a 32-year old woman was struck and killed and at last 19 injured after a car plowed into pedestrians during an anti-rally protest at a Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The driver of the vehicle identified as 20-year old Alex Fields of Ohio has been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes.
James Alex Fields booking photo. Credit: Albermale County Jail
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said a federal investigation into the incident was under way after speaking with new FBI Director Chris Wray on Saturday.
“The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice. When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated,” said AG Jeff Sessions.
President Trump condemned the violence in the strongest term, “We’re closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”
“It’s been going for a long time in our country…It has no place in America,” he said at a Press Conference.
Virginia State Troopers stand guard around the statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, on 12 August 2017. Credit: Joshua Roberts
White nationalists gathered in the Virginia college town over the weekend to protest the planned removal of historic statue of a once revered Civil War and Confederate general, Gen. Robert E. Lee. The event turned violent after anti-rally, Alt-Left Antifa and Black Lives Matters protesters bused in from out of town crushed the rally.
White nationalists are met by a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville. Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency on Saturday moments before the Unite the Right rally and Alt-Left anti-rally protestors were scheduled to begin around Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, according to a tweet sent from his Twitter account.
Thousands of demonstrators had been expected to attend the rally on Saturday in Charlottesville, in protest to its recent decision to remove General Robert E. Lee’s historic stature from a public park which has since been renamed Emancipation Park. Paperwork filed at the city by organizers of the event described the event as a “free speech rally in support of the Lee monument.”
White nationalists gather around a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee during a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
The City of Charlottesville voted in April to remove the statue honoring the Civil War general and to rename Lee Park, Emancipation Park. The monument is still at the park pending further proceedings.
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