2018 Unite the Right rally

2018 Unite the Right rally

Date	August 12, 2018
Location	Washington, D.C., United States
Theme	Opposition to white genocide Anniversary of the 2017 Unite the Right rally
Organized by	Jason Kessler

The "Unite the Right 2" rally was a small march of mostly moderate white nationalists held on August 12, 2018, at Lafayette Square near the White House in Washington, D.C., to mark the first anniversary of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended in massive attacks by Antifa street fighters against the marchers. It was organized by Jason Kessler, who was accused of actually having left-wing political goals.

Unlike the first Unite the Right rally (which ended in left-wing attacks that allegedly triggered a car crash in which one Antifa street activist died, and 30 others were injured), the "Unite the Right 2" rally ended without violence. As of August 12, there was only one arrest in Washington, stemming from a confrontation after the rally had ended.

The rally saw 20 to 30 of Kessler's supporters, protected by a heavy police presence, defiantly marching and mocking thousands of left-wing counter-demonstrators. The rally was described as "embarrassing" for the political left, as some of the demonstrators were filmed shouting anti-American slogans, and even calling for the USA's destruction. However, such scenes were mostly kept out of mainstream media reports. Alt-right observers praised the tactic of avoiding direct confrontations before an allegedly biased media.

Background

Unite the Right rally

The 2017 Unite the Right rally was a mostly moderate white nationalist rally that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia from August 11 to 12, 2017. Its goals were to protest the alleged social decay and anti-white programs that, among many other things, led to the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park, to oppose white genocide in all Western countries through allegedly deliberate population replacement, and to unify the white nationalist movement in the United States. The protesters included alt-right members, white supremacists, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, white separatists, Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and various militias. The event turned violent after the protesters were attacked by far-left counter-protesters, leaving many injured. On the morning of August 12, Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and the Virginia State Police declared the assembly unlawful. At around 1:45 p.m., a white male driver crashed his car into a diverse crowd of counter-protesters near the rally site, killing one person and injuring 19. Attorney General Jeff Sessions condemned the crash as domestic terrorism, though the arrested driver, James Alex Fields Jr., implied he was trying to escape an ongoing attack. He has been charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in state court, and has been charged with an additional 30 offenses in federal court, including violations of federal hate-crime laws.

In the aftermath of the Antifa attacks and counter-violence, President Donald Trump's remarks defending "very fine people on both sides" were perceived by far-left activists as implying moral equivalence between themselves and the civic nationalists they loathed.

Attempt to schedule in Charlottesville

Kessler initially attempted to schedule a second rally in Charlottesville, but was denied a permit by the city in December 2017. Kessler sued the city on First Amendment grounds, saying that if he had prevailed in the lawsuit, rallies would be held in both Charlottesville and Washington, D.C. In June 2018, Kessler sought a temporary injunction from the court to permit a rally in Emancipation Park on August 11 and 12. On June 24, 2018, during a court hearing, Kessler unexpectedly dropped plans to hold a rally in Charlottesville, and posted plans on Twitter for a rally in Washington, D.C. On August 3, 2018, after withdrawing his request for an injunction, Kessler voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville.

Rally

Plans and permits for demonstration and counter-demonstrations

On May 8, 2018, Kessler filed an application for a permit for the rally with the National Park Service (NPS), under the name White Civil Rights Rally. After receiving initial approval in June 2018, the NPS on August 10, 2018, granted the permit for up to 400 people.

Kessler initially said that there were eight "confirmed" speakers set to speak at the event, including deplatformed political dissident David Duke. A number of right-wing individuals and groups who participated in the first Unite the Right rally, including Richard Spencer, the League of the South, Christopher Cantwell, Andrew Anglin, and militia groups — indicated that they would not attend the anniversary rally, having distanced themselves from Kessler, who they suspected of having economic and social left-wing goals, or of being a member of the controlled opposition.

The NPS also approved permits for counter-demonstrations filed by New York Black Lives Matter, Inc.; Thomas Oh; Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America or D.C. United Against Hate; the ANSWER Coalition; and the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund.

The companies Airbnb, Lyft, and Uber declared they generally opposed right-wing and pro-white political events, and encouraged their service associates to "refuse service to anyone who makes them uncomfortable or violates guidelines against discrimination."

Authorities' preparation

In advance of the rally, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser activated the District's emergency operations center, and returned early from a sister-city tour in El Salvador to oversee the local response. The District's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and federal authorities made extensive preparation for "a possible volatile showdown" between "Unite the Right 2" demonstrators and counter-demonstrators. Authorities aimed to avoid a repeat of the clashes at the Charlottesville rally the year before. MPD chief Peter Newsham said that the police would aim "to keep the two groups separate. ... When they are in the same area at the same time, it leads to violent confrontations. Our goal is to prevent that from happening." Authorities, specifically the MPD and the United States Park Police, erected a series of barriers at Lafayette Square to separate white nationalists from counter-demonstrators.

In making security plans for the event, the Washington Metro system floated plans to run separate trains for protestors and counter-demonstrators, in a bid to avoid violent clashes. Following an outcry from the public and from the Metro employees' union (ATU Local 689), who regarded the plans as special treatment for white nationalists, Metro dropped consideration of the idea. However, on August 12, it was reported that Vienna Station had closed to the public, only allowing "Unite the Right 2" demonstrators, police, and press in (though they did reportedly stop at other stations and let the public in). The Metro was criticized by black activists, with people arguing that the service, as well as the police escort the "Unite the Right 2" demonstrators received amounted to preferential treatment for white protestors.

Although no rally was scheduled to take place in Virginia—where the original rally took place one year earlier—the state's governor, Ralph Northam, declared a state of emergency, as smaller events were scheduled to take place in Charlottesville.

Events

Ahead of the rally, police chief Newshan "remained elusive when discussing ingress and egress plans" for the "Unite the Right 2" demonstrated and implied "that the means and route Kessler's group ultimately takes could and probably would change at the last minute." Ultimately, Kessler and a group of between 20 and 30 supporters got on the Washington Metro at the Vienna station in Northern Virginia and traveled to the Foggy Bottom station amid a heavy police presence, then proceeded to Lafayette Square in front of the White House, where Kessler gave a 15-minute speech and was met by thousands of anti-white identity counter-demonstrators. Outside the police cordon, occasional cheers could be heard from the rally over the constant angry shouts of their opponents. The rally itself was scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. but ended earlier, though many counter-protesters were unaware the rally participants had left the area. Several police vans escorted the demonstrators back to Virginia. A local official said that the demonstrators were driven to the Rosslyn station in Northern Virginia to return to the Vienna station, "where they would be greeted by county police who could escort them to their cars if necessary."

Thousands of counter-demonstrators were organized by an alliance of left-wing activism groups, and were sent to Freedom Plaza several blocks from Lafayette Square to confront the protestors. Ahead of the rally, one organizer said she expected participants with a range of partially overlapping political backgrounds from far-left to mainstream left to soft conservatives "who agree that white supremacy is abhorrent." Demonstrators included a multiracial group of left-wing Baptists. A separate group of about 20 people sang "We Shall Overcome" while marching from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial. There were numerous antifa or associated activists; some black-clad members engaged in a brief confrontation with police close to 13th and G Streets NW. Without enough rally participants to attack, the more extreme left-wing counter-demonstrators sometimes scuffled and shouted at more moderate anti-white nationalism protesters.

The rally and counterdemonstrations ended without violence; there was one arrest stemming from a confrontation after the rally had ended. In a separate incident, one left-wing activist was charged with simple assault in Virginia after allegedly spitting on two Virginia State Police officers outside the Vienna Metro stop.

Costs

According to a preliminary estimate prepared by the District of Columbia government, the District spent $2.6 million on costs related to the rally and the related counter-demonstrators. Almost all of the costs related to staffing and overtime for D.C. police. This cost estimate does not include expenditures incurred by other agencies (the Virginia State Police, Fairfax County Police Department, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and U.S. Park Police) related to the rally.

Further deplatforming

On July 31, 2018, Facebook announced that it had deleted a number of white nationalist and other dissident accounts which it claimed were engaging in "coordinated inauthentic behavior".

Reactions

Ahead of the rally, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser warned the marchers: "We the people of Washington, D.C. say unequivocally that we denounce hate, we denounce anti-Semitism and we denounce the rhetoric that we expect to hear this Sunday." The governors of the neighboring states—Ralph Northam of Virginia and Larry Hogan of Maryland—made similar statements. President Donald Trump declined to condemn white nationalism, calling for unity and stating that he "condemn[s] all types of racism and acts of violence." The remarks echoed Trump's remarks following the original rally a year earlier, in which he blamed "both sides" for violence. Vice President Mike Pence released a statement saying that "bigotry, racism and hated run counter to our most cherished values and have no places in American society." The ability of a small number of moderate right-wing protesters to trigger a massive left-wing response was held up by alt-right commentators as a useful asymmetric conflict tool.

External links

• Official website