Supporters gathered in Emancipation Park Saturday morning in anticipation of a noon rally held by "Unite the Right." The aim of the rally was to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The park was formerly known as Lee Park.
State police and members of the Virginia National Guard surrounded the park after McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and the city of Charlottesville declared the alt-right protest an unlawful assembly — effectively cancelling the demonstration before its planned start time.
City police estimate between 2,000 and 6,000 people were expected to attend the "Unite the Right" rally, according to local paper The Daily Progress. The controversial event was seeking to unify the far-right wing and "affirm the right of Southerners and white people to organize for their interests," according to its Facebook page.
McAuliffe said he declared a state of emergency to allow for a response to quell the violence.
“It is now clear that public safety cannot be safeguarded without additional powers, and that the mostly out-of-state protesters have come to Virginia to endanger our citizens and property," McAuliffe said in a statement released shortly before noon. "I am disgusted by the hatred, bigotry and violence these protesters have brought to our state over the past 24 hours."
White nationalists, as well as apparent neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members, were met in opposition by clergy members and other groups, who stood in a line singing "This Little Light of Mine" to drown out the profanity and slurs.