An alliance of several white nationalist groups — including those involved in an August rally in Charlottesville, Va. — has announced plans for a “White Lives Matter” rally this month in Tennessee.

The rally is scheduled for Sat., Oct. 28, in Shelbyville, located an hour southeast of Nashville.

Brad Griffin, who writes under the alias Hunter Wallace on his blog Occidental Dissent, announced that the event is being held by the Nationalist Front, a group of organizations that includes the National Socialist Movement, Traditionalist Worker Party, League of the South, White Lives Matter, Vanguard America and others.

The Southern Poverty Law Center considers each organization to be an extremist hate group falling under neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate and white nationalist categories.

On his blog, he said the rally is being held to draw attention to a fatal church shooting last month in Antioch, as well as to “protest the ongoing problem of refugee resettlement in Middle Tennessee.”

► More:Motive in Antioch church shooting key to federal civil rights investigation, experts say

► More:Personal turmoil weighed on Nashville church shooting suspect Emanuel K. Samson

In the post, Griffin casts blame on President Donald Trump’s administration for “not saying a word” after the Sept. 24 shooting, in which police say Emanuel Samson, 25, opened fire at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, killing one and injuring seven others.

Metro Nashville police previously announced Samson was a legal resident, but not a citizen, after coming to the United States from Sudan in 1996.

On Thursday, Griffin said in addition to the public rally in Shelbyville — and potentially public rallies in other Middle Tennessee cities that day — the group would also hold a private meeting that night, something that was supposed to take place after the Charlottesville rally but never happened.

Rally initially billed as “Unite the Right 2.0”

Though Griffin tweeted last month that he was in the process of planning an event that would essentially be “Unite the Right 2.0,” organizers have since moved away from that title and adopted the “White Lives Matter” event name.

The SPLC has shared a photo depicting James Alex Fields — a man charged with killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer in Charlottesville after police say he ran his car into a group of counterprotesters — standing with other men during the rally holding shields with Vanguard America’s logo on it and wearing matching uniforms.

Though Vanguard America in a statement confirmed its participation in the Charlottesville rally, the group denied Fields was a member of the organization, and said the shield and white shirt uniform “do not denote membership.”

According to the SPLC, the Traditionalist Worker Party, Vanguard America and League of the South were all involved with the Charlottesville rally.

On Saturday, Matthew Heimbach, a leader in the Traditionalist Worker Party, and League of the South president Michael Hill both took part in a white supremacist conference held at Cumberland Mountain State Park in Crossville. The national director and other members of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan were also among those in attendance at the weekend event, which was held as a replacement to a conference canceled by Stormfront website founder Don Black.

City prepares for rally, asks federal authorities for help

On Thursday, the Shelbyville Police Department confirmed it had been notified Tuesday by Hill, of League of the South, about the group's plans to rally Oct. 28 on sidewalks in Shelbyville from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., said Lt. Brian Crews.

The rally participants aren't seeking a permit, Crews said, as they aren't requesting any streets to be closed for the rally.

After Chief Jan Phillips received the call from Hill, police staff have been "busy working on this ever since," Crews said, including reaching out to surrounding local agencies as well as state and federal law enforcement to request help.

"We don’t know how many people we’ll have showing up at this rally at this point in time," Crews said. "We're making plans that we will have a large gathering and preparing if they do show up."

He said when Hill initially called, the police department didn't realize League of the South and other participating groups had been involved in Charlottesville's Unite the Right rally.

"That definitely is a concern, but that's why we will be making adequate plans to have a sufficient number of law enforcement present for this event."

Crews said police haven't yet heard from any counter-protest groups about plans to come to the rally. He said police also are unaware whether the demonstrating group plans to carry firearms during the rally, and that whether they'll be allowed to do so is "something we'll be discussing in the days ahead."

In response to an inquiry, Shelbyville city manager Shanna Boyette responded with a statement indicating the city had received a number of concerns from residents who had learned of the rally.

"The City of Shelbyville cannot deny anyone the Constitutional right to assemble or the right to free speech," the city said. "The City can place reasonable restrictions upon place, time, and manner in order to ensure public safety."

In the statement, Boyette indicated Shelbyville's police, fire and public works departments were all taking part in preparations, as well as the Bedford County Sheriff's Office. She said the city is in touch with a rally organizer and would update the community after it finalizes plans.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follower her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.