White nationalists leave rally in few numbers under police escort
White nationalists attending the “Unite the Right 2” rally reportedly left in few numbers on Sunday in Washington, D.C.
According to a local CBS affiliate, the roughly two dozen demonstrators who attended the white nationalist rally were escorted out of Lafayette Park by local police to the cheers of hundreds of people protesting them.
The 10-15 #UniteTheRight2 demonstrators have left Lafayette Park, under police escort. The thousands of #ShutitDownDC demonstrators cheered upon their exit and are still chanting. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/sTEtMXRJM8
— Andrea McCarren (@AndreaMcCarren) August 12, 2018
The rally’s organizer, Jason Kessler, said ahead of Sunday’s rally that he expected 100-400 white nationalists to attend the demonstration, USA Today reported. But a much smaller group of demonstrators attended the rally and were greatly outnumbered by law enforcement officers and counterprotests.
{mosads}Reporters from The Washington Post and The Atlantic tweeted that Kessler left before 5:30 p.m. The rally was scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m., according to the “Unite the Right 2” website.
Thousands of people protesting the rally gathered across the district on Sunday in numerous planned events to denounce the rally celebrating the first anniversary of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.
President Trump said on Saturday that he condemns “all types of racism and acts of violence” on Twitter, just one day before the white supremacist rally was scheduled to be in the nation’s capital.
“The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division,” Trump said on Twitter. “We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!”
Trump faced immediate backlash over his response to the white supremacist rally last year that left one counterprotestor dead, saying that there was “blame” as well as “very fine people” on “both sides” of the rally.
While the president did not repeat that claim in his Saturday tweet, he also did not assign blame for racism.
-Michael Burke contributed
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