CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Hundreds of anti-racist demonstrators are marching through the streets of a North Carolina city in response to rumors of a white supremacist march.
The sheriff had issued a statement that he was investigating the rumors, but no gathering of white supremacists was apparent by midafternoon Friday. However, officers blocked streets and businesses closed.
Hundreds of others gathered downtown with signs such as “Black Lives Matter” and “We Will Not Be Intimidated.” They marched for several blocks and then held an impromptu rally in front of where a Confederate statue was toppled Monday. On Friday, protesters altered an inscription on the statue’s base that had read “In memory of the boys who wore the gray” with the phrase “Death to the Klan.”
The protest was largely peaceful, but two white men and some protesters engaged in a shouting match, and then the men entered a government building.
Willis Brown, who is black, said he came out to support racial unity. He said protesters are “trying to live in harmony.”
