US white supremacist surrenders to police

Christopher Cantwell, who was featured in a documentary about the violent supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has surrendered to the police, authorities said.

The police at the University of Virginia had issued warrants for his arrest on two counts of illegal use of tear gas and other gases, and one count of malicious bodily injury with a caustic substance, reports CNN.

The New Hampshire resident surrendered to police on Wednesday night in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Cantwell and dozens of others marched through the university grounds on August 11, carrying torches and chanting "Jews will not replace us" and "White lives matter". They were protesting a Charlottesville City Council plan to remove a Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue from a nearby park.

Cantwell was brash and defiant in the documentary but he appeared tearful in a separate Facebook video, saying he might be arrested but not specifying why.

In an interview with The New York Times, he said the warrants stemmed from an incident during the march when he pepper-spraying someone. He said he acted in self-defence.

"I thought that spraying that guy was the least damaging thing I could do...In my left hand I had a flashlight. My other option, other than the pepper spray, was to break this guy's teeth. OK? And I didn't want to do that. I just wanted him to not hurt me."

On August 12, white nationalists gathered for the "Unite the Right" rally and clashed with counter-protesters in downtown Charlottesville, CNN reported.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when said a man drove his car into a crowd.

The driver, James Alex Fields Jr., 20, has been charged with second-degree murder and other offences. His next court appearance is on Friday.

--IANS

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