Torch-wielding protesters chanting 'Russia is our friend' rally at Confederate statue in Virginia
Torch-wielding white supremacists rallied around a Robert E. Lee statue slated for removal and chanted “Russia is our friend" in Virginia Saturday night.
The group surrounding the Confederate statue in Charlottesville’s Lee Park extinguished their torches and left as cops swarmed the street just before 9:30 p.m., according to the Daily Progress newspaper.
It was not immediately clear which group was behind the unsettling stunt but extremist Richard Spencer claimed that he was among the torchbearers after protesting at a similar rally in Jackson Park hours earlier.
The 39-year-old right-wing radical tweeted a photo of himself brandishing a torch during the rally. Charlottesville is home to Spencer’s alma mater, the University of Virginia.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/torch-wielding-protesters-rally-confederate-statue-virginia-article-1.3164235
Torch-wielding white supremacists rallied around a Robert E. Lee statue slated for removal and chanted “Russia is our friend" in Virginia Saturday night.
The group surrounding the Confederate statue in Charlottesville’s Lee Park extinguished their torches and left as cops swarmed the street just before 9:30 p.m., according to the Daily Progress newspaper.
It was not immediately clear which group was behind the unsettling stunt but extremist Richard Spencer claimed that he was among the torchbearers after protesting at a similar rally in Jackson Park hours earlier.
The 39-year-old right-wing radical tweeted a photo of himself brandishing a torch during the rally. Charlottesville is home to Spencer’s alma mater, the University of Virginia.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/torch-wielding-protesters-rally-confederate-statue-virginia-article-1.3164235