Sarah Toy

USA TODAY

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — More than a thousand demonstrators flooded this city’s downtown Saturday in a display of defiance against a rally by Ku Klux Klan members.

Protesters jeered and booed as around 50 Klan members, some wearing hoods and waving Confederate flags, walked through the streets to gather at Justice Park, escorted by police in riot gear.

“Racists, go home!” they shouted.

Police used tear gas to help disperse the crowd, and 22 people were arrested, city officials said.

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, headquartered in North Carolina, were protesting the “the ongoing cultural genocide ... of white Americans,” according to James Moore, one of the Klan members.

“They’re trying to erase us out of the history books,” he said.

Earlier this week, Moore told The Washington Post the group was protesting the Charlottesville City Council’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a public park. A court injunction has put the statue’s removal on hold until a November hearing.

City officials had urged locals to stay away from the rally, saying that confronting the Klan members would only provide them undue attention. The Robert E. Lee statue was vandalized on Friday night, according to the Daily Progress, adding to tensions in the city. More than a hundred police officers were present at the rally site Saturday afternoon.

“They want a violent exchange,” Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer said. “That would be a gift with a bow on it.”

However, many locals were undeterred, showing up in droves, many carrying Black Lives Matter signs and others carrying placards saying “KKK, sashay away,” and “Not OKKK.”

According to the city’s director of communications, Miriam Dickler, pepper spray was used by the crowd at one point and officers released tear gas at another point when the crowd refused to disperse.

Around town, local organizations held open-door events as alternatives to the rally. Unity C’ville, an effort by several groups to promote a peaceful and safe day of solidarity for Charlottesville locals, included a picnic at the local park, discussions about racism at the Jefferson School Heritage Center and a concert at the Sprint Pavillion.

David Straughn, a member of Black Lives Matter Charlottesville, said being present at the rally was important to him.

“It’s nerve-wracking in lot of ways, but it’s something I would regret for the rest of my life I were not here to face it, to absorb it, to face the trauma that the Klan has caused to people of color, to my own family,” he said.

This is not the first time in recent months the Lee statue has brought unwelcome attention to Charlottesville. In May, several dozen torch-wielding demonstrators, led by prominent white supremacist Richard Spencer, gathered by the park statue to protest the vote for its removal. Back then, Signer said the event harkened “back to the days of the KKK.” Several white nationalist groups are planning another rally for Aug. 12.

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Since the 2016 elections, the Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded almost 1,900 incidents of what it calls hateful intimidation and harassment, where people are targeted for things that should be protected under the civil rights act, according to spokesperson Ryan Lenz. Reports were so numerous that the center decided to start a database.

Lenz encouraged those with opposing views to voice them.

“All of this is protected by the First Amendment,” he said of the Klan’s views. “Anyone can go out and say these things.

“Those who have opposing viewpoints should do the same,” he said.