Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday as a rally to mark the anniversary of last year’s fatal white nationalist gathering turned largely into an anti-police protest.

With chants like, “Cops and Klan go hand in hand”, the protesters’ criticisms of both police and the University of Virginia underscored the resentment that still exists a year after torch-bearing neo-Nazis marched through campus, shouting antisemitic messages and beating counter-protesters.

Several students said they were angry that the police response was far larger this year compared with last year, when those attending the white nationalist rally went mostly unchecked. This year, more than 1,000 law enforcement officers lined the streets.

At one point on Saturday, dozens of officers in riot gear formed a line near where the rally was taking place, prompting many protesters to rush over yelling, “Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see no riot here.” The standoff ended without any clashes as organizers urged the crowd to move away and begin marching off campus. Police, who appeared to be avoiding a confrontation, rode bicycles ahead of the march to stop traffic.

James Ryan, the newly installed president of the University of Virginia, apologized for the school’s inaction last year while speaking at an event to memorialize the anniversary.

A year after Charlottesville, white nationalist views creep into politics Read more

Jason Kessler, the racist provocateur who organized last year’s far-right rally, has moved on to Washington, DC, where he has received a permit to stage a “white civil rights rally” on Sunday in front of the White House.

While no official far-right protests are planned in Charlottesville this weekend, many residents in the city were still shaken and on guard, even as many were also frustrated by what they see as the excessive security presence imposed by local and state officials.

On Saturday, the streets were barricaded and the city’s downtown area closed to traffic. Law enforcement officers had set up checkpoints with concrete barriers and metal fences, and were searching bags for objects that might be used as a weapon.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A heavy police presence in front of the statue of civil war Confederate General Robert E Lee. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Evelyn Hockstein for the Guardian

The University of Virginia, where hundreds of white supremacists marched with flaming torches last year, is restricting access to parts of its campus.



Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency earlier this week to help coordinate planning and response to the anniversary weekend.



Charlottesville resident Cynthia Viejo, who came to a downtown mall to eat lunch with her wife described the security as “a little over-the-top, obviously”. As a local business owner herself, she said she wanted to support the barricaded local businesses. She had propped a sign reading “Love not hate!” on the table as she ate.



On Saturday morning, small groups of people came to pay tribute to Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old killed when a car rammed into a packed street of counter-protesters in downtown Charlottesville on 12 August 2017.

Nearly two dozen people were also injured in the attack, which officials said was carried out by James Alex Fields, a 21-year-old white man from Ohio who had demonstrated with the white supremacist groups. Two state troopers also died that day in a helicopter crash near Charlottesville.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman writes messages in chalk in memory of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/The Guardian

The enduring memorial to Heyer on the block where she was killed was heaped with new bouquets, and the chalk messages of love had spread from the brick walls of the buildings across the entire street. “You did not die in vain. Some people are woke now,” someone had written in red chalk on the asphalt.

Up the street, there was another message scrawled on the road: “The killer sped this way.” And in smaller letters: “pray for him, too.”

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, spent the day at the foundation she set up in her daughter’s honor, which has given out scholarships and grants to a diverse group of young Americans working against hate.



Bro had given one media interview after another in the past days and weeks. By early afternoon, she said, she was emotionally exhausted. She had a simple message for those seeking to honor her daughter’s life in the right way: “It’s time to get back to seeking racial justice.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The memorial for Heather Heyer on the street where she was struck and killed last year, in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Evelyn Hockstein for the Guardian

In a dramatic change of tone from last year, when he said there was “blame on both sides” for the violence, President Donald Trump said on Saturday he condemned “all types of racism and acts of violence”.



Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) The riots in Charlottesville a year ago resulted in senseless death and division. We must come together as a nation. I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!

Local activists said they were hoping for a quiet two days of memorials and remembrance in the city. But white supremacist groups have staged multiple visits and flash protests around Charlottesville before and after last August’s violent rallies, and the legal battle over whether the town can remove statues of Confederate generals from two local parks is ongoing.

Play Video 10:10 ‘We’re a segregated city’: Charlottesville speaks out a year after deadly rally

On Sunday, thousands of counter-protesters are slated to attend multiple rallies against white supremacy in Washington, DC. The “white civil rights” anniversary rally organized by Kessler, a Charlottesville resident, is expected to attract no more than 100 to 400 people, according to the official permit for the event.

Kessler had applied for a permit to hold his anniversary rally in Charlottesville, and had sued the city when it denied him the permit, but he dropped his battle with the city in late July. Kessler said on Thursday he would be in Washington on Saturday, as well, and that he did not know of any plans for other events in Charlottesville.

The media and the Ku Klux Klan: a debate that began in the 1920s Read more

Many of the most prominent white supremacist leaders from last year’s rally have suffered setbacks in the past year, a result of forceful counter-protests, a series of lawsuits filed against different white supremacist leaders, movement feuds and infighting, and, in one case, prosecution for domestic violence.

The counter-protests in Washington have renewed the debate over whether small demonstrations of racist extremists should be ignored, or greeted with forceful public opposition. It has also fueled ongoing public debate over the media’s role in covering white supremacists groups.

National Public Radio faced widespread criticism on Friday for running an interview with Kessler in which he recited white nationalist talking points and ranked the intelligence of different races on air.