Palm Springs council member blames Trump for violence in Charlottesville

A day after a car slammed into a crowd of people protesting against a group of right-wing demonstrators in Virginia, valley residents gathered in Palm Springs for a vigil and rally intended to honor those who were killed or injured and voice opposition to white supremacist groups who had been at the demonstration.

Palm Springs city council member Ginny Foat placed blame for the incident, which killed one and injured 19, on the driver and on President Donald Trump, telling those assembled they should speak out against actions they see as hateful.

“I listened to the mayor of Charlottesville today say ‘when you dance with the devil, you change to the devil.’ But we don’t have somebody in the White House who changed to the devil, we have the devil in the White House,” she said, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd.

About 150 people gathered at Frances Stevens Park Sunday evening, holding homemade signs with phrases like “white supremacists are domestic terrorists” and “if you're not outraged you're not paying attention.”

Some wore “Black Lives Matter” shirts, others wore California Courageous Resistance shirts. Event organizer and resistance member Joy Silver said she hopes attendees realized that there are others who feel the same way they do and that they can find comfort in “moments of grief.”

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“It’s very important to know that you’re not alone with how you feel,” she said.

Alexis Ortega of the Riverside County Young Democrats said she often sees people post about the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and some of the backlash to it, and say if they were there they would have done something about it. She said events like the Palm Springs vigil gave people the opportunity to make their voice heard on issues that matter to them.

“This is doing something. This is showcasing to the rest of the community in the Coachella Valley that our community won’t stand for it,” Ortega said, referring to events like the Unite the Right rally that took place in Charlottesville, Va.

Ortega and Silver both spoke at the vigil, along with Foat, city council candidates Lisa Middleton and Christy Holstege, the Rev. Andrew Green of The Church of St. Paul in the Desert, and Rabbi David Lazar of Temple Isaiah, among others.

Palm Springs resident Eileen Stern brought a whiteboard on which she had taped a picture of Heather Heyer, who died Saturday in Charlottesville, and drawn hearts and the phrase “love trumps hate.”

She said when she heard there would be a vigil, she wanted to honor Heyer and her voice. She also rebuked Trump.

“If our president won’t speak out in a forceful manner against white supremacists and Nazis, it will be up to the people,” Stern said.

Related: Vigil for Charlottesville victim canceled, but mourners meet at crash site

The Palm Springs vigil was one of many events which took place across the country following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where Heyer, 32, died after a driver slammed into a group of counter protesters.

Also killed were two state troopers whose surveillance helicopter crashed into woods near the scene.

Organizers of a candlelit vigil planned for downtown Riverside on Sunday planned to construct an altar outside the city hall building in honor of Heyer. Attendees were encouraged to bring flowers, notes and candles.

Nineteen people were injured when a Dodge Challenger rear-ended a sedan, which then hit a minivan that had slowed to allow the counter-protesters to cross at an intersection, police said. The impact pushed the vehicles into the crowd, police said in a statement.

The Challenger fled the scene but was stopped by police a short time later, Charlottesville police said.

The driver of the car, identified as James Alex Fields, 20, of Ohio, was charged with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit and run, police said.

USA Today and City News Service contributed to this story.

Reach the authors at Colin.Atagi@DesertSun.com and Corinne.Kennedy@DesertSun.com.