The Unite the Right rally organized by White Supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials from public spaces turned violent yesterday after a speeding car ploughed into a crowd of counter protesters killing at least one person.
According to CNN, "shortly before the attack on Saturday, fistfights and screaming matches erupted between counter protesters and white nationalists protesting the removal of confederate monuments. The clashes led to the cancellation of scheduled protests by local authorites, sending demonstrators from both sides marching on nearby streets. A few hours later, a car slammed into a throng of counter protesters."
The driver of the gray-colored Dodge Challenger reportedly slammed the car in reverse at high speed and rammed into the crowd holding counter protest. Although he fled the site of the attack, he was later arrested by the Police.
The driver, identified simply as James Alex Fields, is a native of Ohio. He is currently being held at a detention facility in Virginia on suspicion of second-degree murder, malicious wounding and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death.
Meanwhile, the US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions said US Attorney Rick Mountcastle is leading the investigation into the incident. In a statement issued after the incident, Session added that "The violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice. When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated. Justice will prevail."
