White nationalists reportedly planning a rally in Lexington to oppose removal of statues

Darcy Costello | The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Protesters demand the removal of Castleman statue in Cherokee Triangle About 150 protesters demand the removal of Castleman statue in Cherokee Triangle.

LOUISVILLE — In the wake of this weekend's rally in Charlottesville, Va., white nationalists reportedly plan to gather in Lexington to oppose the planned removal of Confederate statues.

Matthew Heimbach, chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, who is no stranger to Kentucky, told the Lexington Herald-Leader people in the area asked his group to get involved. He said the goal is to have the rally "sooner rather than later."

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray announced after Saturday's rally that he intends to take action to relocate the city's Confederate statues. The white supremacist groups that gathered Saturday were drawn at least in part to the city by a vote to sell a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Lexington's City Council went on to vote unanimously Tuesday in favor of removing the Confederate statues from the lawn of the former county courthouse, according to media reports — a move Heimbach and other white nationalists oppose.

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"When you're tearing down the statues, that is a clear attempt to replace and erase us," Heimbach told the Herald-Leader, referring to white people. "This is an attack on us."

Heimbach was accused last year of physically harassing a woman during a March 2016 rally for then-candidate Donald Trump.

He screamed and yelled at Trump protester Kashiya Nwanguma and pushed her repeatedly to make her leave the Kentucky International Convention Center where the rally was taking place, according to a criminal summons from April

He was charged with harassment with physical contact and initially entered a not guilty plea but last month entered an Alford plea, which allows the defendant to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence.

Attempts by the Courier-Journal Tuesday to reach Heimbach on social media accounts were not immediately successful.

The New York Times reported Monday that the Traditionalist Worker Party strives to create a grass-roots movement of white nationalists. The group has organized on behalf of disaffected coal miners and those affected by the opioid epidemic, the Times reported.