Activist Eugene Puryear leads people in a vigil in response to the death of a counter-demonstrator at the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, in Washington, U.S. August 13, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday condemned violent clashes between white nationalists and counter-protesters in the southern U.S. college town of Charlottesville in Virginia.

“We’re against all racism and bigotry,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

“We believe that there must be no place in our societies for the violent racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and discrimination that we’ve seen in Charlottesville, Virginia that we’ve seen in recent days,” he said.