Protesters on both sides of Charlottesville clashes try to make sense of the violence

Record ID: 906114

  • Title: Protesters on both sides of Charlottesville clashes try to make sense of the violence
  • Date: 12th August 2017
  • Summary: CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 12, 2017) (REUTERS) ****WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' SUPPORTERS STANDING AROUND WITH SIGNS AND A LARGE 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' FLAG LINE OF POLICE STANDING AT ATTENTION NEAR WHERE THE 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' PROTESTERS STAND WITH A RAISED FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) 'BLACK LIVES MATTER' SUPPORTER BRANDY FAULKNER SAYING: "Well, it's a shame but we've been dealing with this since our inception as a country, and we have yet to be honest about the race problem that we have. So, hopefully more people will become aware that this is a very serious problem." VARIOUS OF ANTI-WHITE SUPREMACY PROTESTERS CHANTING "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!" (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED WHITE MAN DRAPING AN AMERICAN FLAG AROUND HIS SHOULDERS, CALMLY SAYING TO AN UNIDENTIFIED BLACK MAN: "For years, it wasn't an issue. No one really - I mean, I'm sure there were people offended (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And after that church shooting - which was a shame. I actually put flowers down there after it happened, after that week, to give my respects. Something that used not to be a problem started dividing America." (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE UNIDENTIFIED BLACK MAN IN AN EXCHANGE WITH THE UNIDENTIFIED WHITE MAN: BLACK MAN: I would say the racists, the extremists, they perverted the Confederate flag to use it for their, you know, benefit. WHITE MAN: Yeah, and I can't stand it. I hate people that pervert the American flag doing the same. You know, there's Neo Nazis, Klan, down there. They're flying a flag that stands for all Americans. Even the Confederate flag, you know, to me - At the end of the day, it means more meaning that what, you know - it's a Southern thing." VARIOUS OF A LINE OF ARMED RIOT POLICE STANDING GUARD IN THE STREET AS PEOPLE HANG AROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED NATIONALIST PROTESTER, WHO SAYS HIS MISSION AT THE RALLY WAS TO KEEP THE CONFEDERATE STATUE AT THE HEART OF THE PLANNED RALLY IN ITS CURRENT LOCATION, SAYING: "It's been here since the 1920's. It's a lot of history. And I don't think history should be erased just by removing it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATIONALIST PROTESTER JOHN HEYDEN SAYING: "Well, I don't know what was accomplished or not accomplished because it looked to me like everything was shut down before it even got started. I'm just here trying to preserve my First Amendment rights to free speech, and they're being eroded in this town left and right." VARIOUS OF AN ANTI-WHITE SUPREMACY PROTESTER GETTING INTO A VERBAL TUSSLE WITH ANOTHER MAN
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2017 18:57
  • Keywords: riot police Virginia protesters Charlottesville KKK Unite the Right white nationalists scuffles civil unrest Black Lives Matter
  • Location: CHARLOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA , UNITED STATES / INTERNET
  • City: CHARLOTTSVILLE, VIRGINIA , UNITED STATES / INTERNET
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016TUPD1J
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: CONTAINS PROFANITY
    Participants from dueling protests in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday (August 12) clashed with each other earlier in the day, prompting the governor to declare an emergency and stop a rally to protest the planned removal of a Confederate general from a public park.
    The clashes unfolded ahead of the planned start of a "Unite the Right" rally that was expected to draw thousands of people who are angry at the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park.
    "Something that used not to be a problem started dividing America," one unidentified white man draped in an American flag calmly said to an African American man.
    U.S. President Donald Trump, on a working vacation at his New Jersey golf club, condemned the violence and urged Americans to "come together as one."
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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