50 Klansmen Rally in Va.; 1K Counterprotesters Show Up

Between 30 and 50 members of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan rallied in support of controversial Confederate statues on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., but the Washington Post reports that their shouts of "white power" were drowned out by more than 1,000 counterprotesters. More than 100 cops in riot gear escorted Klansmen to and from the 45-minute rally, held in protest of the city's plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. Police later declared an "unlawful assembly" when counterprotesters refused to leave, reports the Daily Progress, and used tear gas to make their point; 23 were arrested. "It is important for me to be here because the Klan was ignored in the 1920s, and they metastasized," says a protester. "They need to know that their ideology is not acceptable." (Here's why Charlottesville is the latest flashpoint in alt-right wars.)