Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer. (Ryan M. Kelly/The
Daily Progress via AP)
The mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, thanked President
Donald Trump on Saturday for "condemning hate in speech and action"
after white nationalists and protesters clashed at a rally at a downtown park.
Here is Mayor Mike Signer's tweet:
__________
_____________
The mayor of
Charlottesville, Virginia, thanked President Donald Trump on Saturday for
"condemning hate in speech and action" after white nationalists and
protesters clashed at a rally at a downtown park.
He later condemned the
plowing of the crowd by a car, which injured as many as six people, and begged
protesters to "go home."
__________
____________
Trump tweeted after
Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in
Virginia shortly following the start of the clashes:
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We ALL must be united
& condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of
violence in America. Lets come together as one!
____________
Am in Bedminster for
meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and are
doing, to make it better-but Charlottesville sad!
_________________
The rally was planned at
Emancipation Park to protest a decision by city officials to remove the statue
of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee., but was ultimately dispersed after the
state of emergency was declared.
White nationalists also
marched through the campus of the University of Virginia Friday night, carrying
torches and shouting phrases like “white lives matter” and “you will not
replace us.”
Signer also slammed the
protest in a statement, calling the gathering "a cowardly parade of
hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance."
"Everyone has a
right under the First Amendment to express their opinion peaceably, so here's
mine: not only as the Mayor of Charlottesville, but as a UVA faculty member and
alumnus, I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of
visual intimidation on a college campus," he said.
