Outrage as White Supremacist Organizer of Fatal Charlottesville Rally Plans DC Anniversary Event

News that white supremacists are planning a two-day “white civil rights rally” near the White House in August to mark the one-year anniversary of last year’s deadly “Unite the Right” demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia has provoked widespread outrage and calls for counterprotests.

“I believe in free speech. But speech that advocates violence crosses the line,” responded Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Citing a spokesman for the National Park Service, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that officials have approved white supremacist leader Jason Kessler’s request to hold the Aug. 11-12 event but have not yet issued a permit.

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Kessler helped organize the demonstrations in Charlottesville last year that began with Neo-Nazis storming the streets with torches on a Friday night, then quickly descended into violence during a Saturday rally that led the governor to call a state of emergency. One rally participant, James Alex Fields Jr., plowed his car into a crowd, killing anti-racist demonstrator Heather Heyer, and several white supremacists viciously beat a 20-year-old black man in a parking garage.

Approval for this year’s D.C. rally comes after Charlottesville officials rejected Kessler’s application to host an anniversary event in the city that scores of white supremacists terrorized nearly a year ago. Following that decision in December, Kessler filed a lawsuit claiming the city is infringing on his First Amendment rights. A court ruling is pending, but Kessler told the Post if he prevails, there will be rallies in both locations.

Last year’s demonstrations dominated headlines for weeks, particularly after President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed “both sides”—meaning white supremacists and anti-racist counterprotesters—were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville. Critics quickly denounced the president’s remarks as “nauseating,” “racist,” and “unconscionable.”