WASHINGTON — A white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Saturday led to violence, three deaths, several injuries and caused a state of emergency in the Commonwealth.
In response to the rally, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe addressed the white nationalists saying, “Go home. You are not wanted in this great Commonwealth. Shame on you,” said McAuliffe. “We are stronger than you … There is no place for you here. There is no place for you in America.”
Gov. McAuliffe to white supremacists: "Go home… Shame on you. You pretend you are patriots, but you are anything but a patriot" pic.twitter.com/RkJd142Kfc
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 12, 2017
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also offered his full support to McAuliffe and asked Maryland State Police Superintendent Bill Pallozzi to offer his support with his Virginia counterpart, according to a Facebook post.
Virginia Senate Democrats also chimed in with comment on the violence that took place Saturday.
“We are devastated by the news of at least one fatality as Virginians expressed their first amendment right, making their voices heard as they spoke out against racism and bigotry,” Sen. Dick Saslaw and Sen. Mamie Locke said in a joint statement. “Fundamentally, hate has no place in Virginia. We are praying for the victims and their families, and for the first responders who are on the scene working to keep Virginians safe.”
From his New Jersey Golf Club, President Donald Trump addressed the violent clashes between protesters and white supremacists, blaming “many sides” for the events in Charlottesville.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” said Trump. “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. It’s been going on for a long, long time.”
But some Virginia leaders disagreed with the president’s statement.
The mayor of Charlottesville blatantly blamed the president for the violence in Virginia.
“I’m not going to make any bones on about it,” said Mayor Michael Signer. “I place the blame on a lot of what you’re seeing in America today right at the doorstep of the White House and the people around the president.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said blamed the Charlottesville chaos not on “many sides” but on “racists and white supremacists.”
