The rally had turned into a tragedy in 2017. Figures and organizations of the American far right were ordered Tuesday to pay more than 25 million dollars (about 21.7 million euros) to victims of a demonstration that they had organized in Charlottesville, which is in the state of Virginia.
After a month of trial in federal court, a jury estimated that twelve leaders and five ultra-right groups could be held responsible for the violence that left one dead and several injured in this Virginia city.
The jury accepted four of the six grounds for prosecution that appeared in the complaint filed by victims of the clashes and failed to agree on two others. Despite everything, the complainants were delighted to have obtained satisfaction. “We now hope that this decision will encourage other voices to (…) denounce white supremacy,” they commented in a statement sent by the organization Intergrity First for America which supported them. “The decision sends the message that our country does not tolerate violence motivated by racial or religious hatred,” added their lawyers Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn.
A march of neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan
In the summer of 2017, hundreds of white nationalists demonstrated, under the banner of the “Unite the right” movement, to protest against the town hall’s decision to unbolt a statue of General Robert Lee who led the southern slave states during from the Civil War. The rally began on the evening of August 11 with a march of neo-Nazis and members of the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan parading in the light of their torches.
The next day, clashes broke out between these supporters of white supremacy and anti-racist protesters. A neo-Nazi sympathizer, James Fields, then drove into a crowd of counter-demonstrators, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19. Republican President Donald Trump denounced violence “on both sides”, which led to him being accused of appeasing the far right.
James Fields has since been sentenced to life imprisonment. The civil proceedings, launched in 2017 by victims, progressed more slowly, in particular due to the lack of cooperation from the defendants. During the trial, most of them did not deny their beliefs, including racist ones, but denied having planned the violence. In the years 1980-1990, civil complaints filed by anti-racist activists brought several extremist organizations to their knees, forced to cede their property to pay the compensation set by the courts.
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