Charlottesville anniversary: Peaceful protests, few arrests

Thousands of people wanting to send a message that racism is unwelcome in the United States gathered in a park outside the White House to protest a white nationalist rally on the anniversary of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In the end, fewer than two dozen white nationalists showed up.

The events in Washington and others in Charlottesville, largely peaceful though tense at times, marked a year since one of the largest gatherings of white nationalists and other far-right extremists in a decade. One person was arrested in Washington on Sunday, and four others were arrested in Charlottesville.

In Charlottesville, the mother of the woman killed at last summer's rally visited the site of the attack, saying the country's racial wounds still have not healed.

In Washington, a phalanx of police and a maze of metal barriers separated the small group of white nationalists from shouting counterprotesters within view of the White House.

Jason Kessler, the principal organizer of last year's "Unite the Right" event, led the Sunday gathering he called a white civil rights rally in Lafayette Park. Kessler said in a permit application that he expected 100 to 400 people to participate, but the actual number was far lower: only around 20.

Kessler's group was dogged by jeering crowds from the moment they emerged from the Foggy Bottom Metro station; they marched about a mile to the White House surrounded by uniformed officers and police vehicles. Behind the barricades, in the northern half of the park, thousands of counterprotesters struggled to even catch a clear glimpse of the white nationalist rally.

The counterprotesters had gathered hours earlier in Lafayette Park and nearby Freedom Plaza. Makia Green, who represents the Washington branch of Black Lives Matter, told Sunday's crowd in Freedom Plaza: "We know from experience that ignoring white nationalism doesn't work."
Washington Police Chief Peter Newsham credited his forces for successfully avoiding violence and keeping the two sides separated. Newsham called it, "a well-executed plan to safeguard people and property while allowing citizens to express their First Amendment rights."
"There's so much healing to do," Bro said. "We have a huge racial problem in our city and in our country. We have got to fix this, or we'll be right back here in no time."