Four members of a militant white supremacist group from California have been charged with inciting a riot and attacking counterprotesters during the deadly Charlottesville rally last year.
Court documents that were unsealed Tuesday revealed that Benjamin Drake Daley, Michael Paul Miselis, Thomas Walter Gillen and Cole Evan White are part of the group Rise Above Movement (RAM).
RAM espouses anti-Semitic views and meets regularly in public parks to train in boxing and other fighting techniques, according to an affidavit.
The affidavit alleges that the four men were ‘among the most violent individuals present in Charlottesville’ on August 11 and 12 of last year.
It says photos and video footage shows they attacked counterprotesters, ‘which in some cases resulted in serious injuries’.
White supremacists Benjamin Daley (pictured), Michael Miselis, Thomas Gillen and Cole White have been charged with inciting a riot during the deadly Charlottesville riot last year
The affidavit alleges that the four men were ‘among the most violent individuals present in Charlottesville’ on August 11 and 12 of last year during the Unite the Rite rally (file image)
The men have also taken part in ‘acts of violence’ at political rallies in Huntington Beach and Berkeley, California, and other places, the affidavit alleges.
Another court filing in the case shows that the men have been arrested and are awaiting their initial hearings.
It wasn’t immediately clear if they have attorneys who could comment on their behalf.
Federal prosecutors said earlier in the day that multiple arrests had been made in connection with the events that transpired last August in Virginia.
US Attorney Thomas Cullen announced the charges during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The arrests come more than a year after hundreds of white nationalists descended on Charlottesville in part to protest the planned removal of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee statue.
Heather Heyer, 32, (pictured with her grandmother) was killed when a car that was driven by a man fascinated by Adolf Hitler plowed into a crowd of peaceful counterprotesters
The suspected driver, 21-year-old James Fields Jr, of Maumee, Ohio, was subsequently charged with federal hate crimes in Heyer’s death. Pictured is the silver Dodge Charger that was allegedly driven by Fields
Clashes first erupted on August 11, 2017, as a crowd of white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus carrying torches and chanting racist slogans encountered a small group of counterprotesters.
The following day, more violence broke out between counterprotesters and attendees of Jason Kessler’s ‘Unite the Right’ rally, which was believed to be the largest gathering of white nationalists in at least a decade.
Street fighting exploded before the event could begin as scheduled and went on for nearly an hour in view of police until authorities forced the crowd to disperse.
In July, Fields pleaded not guilty to all of the 30 charges brought against him
Later, a woman was killed when a car that was driven by a man fascinated by Adolf Hitler plowed into a crowd of peaceful counterprotesters, prosecutors said.
The suspected driver, 21-year-old James Fields Jr, of Maumee, Ohio, was subsequently charged with federal hate crimes in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Twenty-eight other people also suffered injuries from what authorities believe was an intentional attack by Fields.
In July, Fields pleaded not guilty to all of the 30 charges brought against him.
Fields also faces state murder charges. His trial is scheduled to begin November 26.
The death toll rose to three when a state police helicopter that had been monitoring the event crashed, killing two troopers.
President Donald Trump sparked a public outcry after he blamed both sides for the violence.
An independent report released three months later found serious police and government failures in responding to the mayhem.