Charlottesville (Virginia): Three people were killed and dozens injured as a car rammed into a crowd of protesters and a state police helicopter crashed into the woods as tension boiled over at a white supremacist rally. The violent day left the usually quiet college town a bloodied symbol of the nation's roiling racial and political divisions.
The chaos erupted around what is believed to be the largest group of white nationalists to come together in a decade - including neo-Nazis, skinheads, members of the Ku Klux Klan - who descended on the city to “take America back“ by rallying against plans to remove a Confederate statue. Hundreds came to protest against the racism. There were street brawls and violent clashes; the governor declared a state of emergency and helicopters circled overhead.
Peaceful protesters were marching downtown, carrying signs that read “black lives matter.” Suddenly a car came ploughed through the crowd and smashed into another car. The impact hurled people into the air and blew off their shoes. A 32-year-old woman was killed as she crossed the street. The victim was identified as 32-year-old Heather Heyer of Charlottesville. Mayor Mike Signer called the killing of Heyer and the injury of others by the vehicle a “terrorist attack with a car used as a weapon.”
The driver, James Alex Fields Jr, a 20-year-old, was charged with second-degree murder and other counts. His arrest capped off hours of unrest. Hundreds of people threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays. Some came prepared for a fight, with body armour and helmets.
Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and Charlottesville mayor Michael Signer lumped the blame squarely on the rancour that has seeped into American politics and the white supremacists who came from out of town into their city.
Just as the city seemed like to be quieting down, black smoke billowed out from the tree tops just outside of town as a Virginia State Police helicopter crashed into the woods. Both troopers onboard, Lieutenant H Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke M M Bates were killed.
