Local real estate developer Justin Beights has applied to host a festival in Emancipation Park on the same weekend white supremacists want to gather for Charlottesville riot anniversary
A local real estate developer looks set to take on a group of white supremacists for use of the Charlottesville park where a protest turned into a deadly riot last year.
Justin Beights has requested a permit to host the ‘Festival of the Schmestival’ in Emancipation Park on August 11 and 12 – a family friendly fair featuring a petting zoo and a celebrity dunk tank, The Daily Progress reported.
The dates he has requested are the same days Jason Kessler, the organizer of last year’s Unite the Right rally, had planned to host an anniversary event to help promote white civil rights.
He was denied a permit when he first applied to host the anniversary event, and has taken legal action against the city, claiming he was being denied his First Amendment rights.
White nationalists descended on Charlottesville on August 12, 2017 – in part to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Jason Kessler (pictured), an organizer of the deadly rally in Charlottesville last year, was denied a permit for an anniversary rally in the same spot and is now suing the city
The group began fighting in the streets with counter protesters before the event even officially began.
The brawling went on for nearly an hour leaving dozens injured in plain view of police officers, until the event eventually disbanded.
Later, as counter protesters were peacefully marching through a downtown street, a car drove into the crowd, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring many more.
James Alex Fields Jr, who had been seen marching with white supremacist groups, was behind the wheel, and he has been charged with first degree murder.
Beights says the timing of his festival was unintentional, but he could understand how it could be seen otherwise.
He was not upset about the clash though, and said he would be okay if he was to blame for the ‘white civil rights’ rally being moved or cancelled in Charlottesville – noting it would be be the ‘greatest side effect in the history of side effects’.
‘Screw those guys,’ Beights told The Daily Progress. ‘If the park’s available, we’ll have our event.’
Both men want to hold their event in Emancipation Park (pictured) on the same weekend. The first ‘Unite the Right’ rally was called in part last year to stop a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee (pictured) being removed
The family-friendly festival would be the polar opposite of the violent and deadly riot that took place in the park a year before (pictured: People receiving first aid after a car ran through the crowd at the event in 2017, which left one woman dead)
The local developer hopes to donate proceeds from the festival to charitable organizations, but has not finalized anything as his permit has not yet been granted.
City officials are in the process of considering Beights’ application, but need to resolve the injunction imposed upon them by Kessler.
‘Last week, Jason Kessler filed a motion in federal court seeking a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit by which he is challenging the city’s December 2017 denial of a permit for his proposed rally on the same dates,’ Spokesman Brian Wheeler said. ‘At this time, no hearing date has been scheduled on the motion. The city’s response will be filed in federal court by July 6.’
While it does not appear he is welcome in Charlottesville, Kessler has had a permit approved in Washington – across the road from the White House – for his rally.
The National Park Service revealed last week it had approved an application for a ‘Unite the Right’ anniversary rally to be held in front of the White House at Lafayette Square on August 11-12, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Organizer Jason Kessler’s application describes the event as a ‘white civil rights’ rally, and says he expects about 400 people to attend.
He says he wants elected officials in Washington to know that the violence that killed a woman and injured others in Charlottesville was provoked by what he’s calling ‘civil rights abuse.’
Kessler has been granted a permit to host his anniversary rally for ‘white civil rights’ in Washington – across the road from the White House (pictured: the Klu Klux Klan protest the removal of a confederate statue of Robert E Lee in Charlottesville just weeks before Kessler’s rally)
Kessler has filed a lawsuit against the city of Charlottesville for denying him the right to host his rally there. He says he has been denied his First Amendment rights (pictured: A vehicle drives into a group of counter protesters at the 2017 rally, killing one woman)
Kessler predicts in the application that ‘members of Antifa affiliated groups will try to disrupt.’
National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst told the Tribune the service and Kessler are still ironing out finer details such as timing, boundaries, sound regulations and liability rules.
Litterst said the government service does not ‘consider the content of the message presented’ when deciding to issue a permit.
Kessler told the Washington Post he anticipates he’ll be successful in his suit against Charlottesville, and will then be able to host rallies in both Washington and Charlottesville on the day.
The University of Virginia graduate told the Post he is specifically trying to get the attention of the President and other members of Congress, so they can be made aware of what he sees as ‘the civil rights abuse by the Charlottesville government that led to the violence at last year’s rally’.
‘White people are being denied the ability to organize in political organizations the way other groups do, free of harassment, to face the issues important to us,’ he said when asked why he was choosing to focus on white rights.
Pictured: Kessler’s permit application for his rally in Washington. He says he anticipates 400 people will attend, though will only be hiring one bathroom
Kessler anticipates ‘members of Antifa affiliated groups will try to disrupt’ his protest