'Blood On Your Hands': Protesters Interrupt Charlottesville Meeting Over White Supremacist Rally

Photo credit: Frances Robles for the New York Times

Charlottesville protesters interrupted and criticized City Council members during their first meeting following the violence that took place at the "Unite the Right" rally on August 12.

As the New York Times reports:

The meeting started out without incident, but as soon as the rally was mentioned, several residents began shouting down city officials for allowing the Aug. 12 'Unite the Right' rally to take place. The chamber erupted, and when police officers forcibly removed three people, the 100 or so at the meeting broke out into furious chants of 'Shame' and 'Shut it down!' The three people were issued summonses charging them with disorderly conduct. No injuries were reported.

At one point, two people stood on the dais and unfurled a banner with the words 'Blood on your hands!' as council members and the mayor left the room. The residents refused to cede control of the room until the authorities promised to release the residents who had been taken away and let people have their say.

It took about a half-hour for order to be restored, and the meeting stretched for several hours, as speaker after speaker spoke about their anguish over what the community had experienced. Several people wept and said they had been unable to sleep since witnessing violence against their neighbors.

After remarks from the residents, the City Council informed protesters that they tried to deny a permit for the white supremacist rally but a federal court had ruled in favor of the protest organizers, to which the residents responded unfavorably. However, before the meeting was over the Council members unanimously agreed to drape the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in black in mourning (they also pushed for faster action of removing the statues, although Virginia state legislature has to approve the statues' removal first).

Source: nytimes.com