Vehicle plows into crowd of Charlottesville protesters, VA declares state of emergency
A car plowed into a group of counter-protesters at a white supremacist rally in Virginia Saturday afternoon.
An AP reporter saw at least one person receiving medical treatment on the ground just after the incident. Video shown on social media showed that there was actually more than one vehicle involved.
The car hit the crowd two hours after police had shut down a white supremacist rally before it started in Charlottesville. This came just hours after violent fights broke out between the tiki torch wielding white nationalists and the counter-protesters on Friday night.
The right-wing activists were armed with clubs and holding shields. They were at a park protesting the removal of a Confederate statue.
— Artist projects image of Jeff Sessions In KKK hood on DOJ building —Â
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In attendance were KKK Imperial Wizard David Duke, alt-right leader Richard Spencer as well as Jason Kessler who organized the rally.
There were hundreds of counter-protesters including Black Lives Matter activists and Princeton professor Cornel West.
Punches have been thrown, bottles hurled and chemicals sprayed and several men have been seen with blood running down their faces.
The Washington Post reports that the violence broke out soon after hundreds of the far-right protesters entered the park. They also reported that Charlottesville and Virginia state police in riot gear stood nearby doing nothing at first.
The marchers left the park but continued to cause chaos and mayhem in the streets.
A state of emergency has now been declared in Virginia.
