An organizer of last year’s deadly white supremacist rally in Virginia has been granted initial approval to host another rally in August, this time in the heart of the nation’s capital.
The National Park Service says it has 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.’
Jason Kessler, an organizer of the deadly rally in Charlottesville last year has filed a permit for an anniversary rally in front of the white house
Kessler says he is protesting ‘white civil rights abuse’ and wants to get the attention of the President and other members of congress (pictured: People receiving first aid after a car ran through the crowd at the event in 2017, which left one woman dead)
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.
The city of Charlottesville denied Kessler’s application to hold an anniversary rally there.
Kessler has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming he was being denied his First Amendment rights.
Kessler had also applied to have the rally in Charlottesville again, but was knocked back (pictured: the Klu Klux Klan protest the removal of a confederate statue of Robert E Lee in Charlottesville just weeks before Kessler’s rally)
The ‘Unite the Right’ rally on August 12 drew hundreds of white nationalists from across the country and resulted of hours of brawling with counter protestors, leaving dozens injured
He told the Washington Post he anticipates he’ll be successful in court, 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’.
Kessler (pictured at the rally in 2017) says white pople are ‘denied the ability to organize in political organizations the way other groups do’
‘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.
White nationalists descended on Charlottesville on August 12, 2017 – in part to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
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 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.
City officials had earlier tried to move the rally to a larger park about a mile from downtown Charlottesville, but their request was blocked by a federal judge after the American Civil Liberties Union sued on free-speech grounds.
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)
Pictured: Kessler’s permit application. 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
White nationalists are seen gathering with torches before marching through the University of Virginia Campus the day before the violent and deadly rally