CRIME/POLICE: “Authorities around the U.S. are preparing for provocative rallies, grappling with vandalism of Confederate monuments, and accelerating efforts to remove the historic statues, after violent clashes between white nationalist demonstrators and their opponents in Charlottesville, Va., this weekend.
The events in Charlottesville, where a woman was killed when an alleged white supremacist drove his car into a group of counter-demonstrators, has sharpened the focus on how to balance free-speech rights with public safety.
Citing security concerns, Texas A&M University late Monday [8-14-17] said it was cancelling a planned Sept. 11 ‘White Lives Matter’ event announced by ‘nationalist and traditionalist’ activist Preston Wiginton.
About 80 miles away from Charlottesville in Virginia’s state capital, the organizer of a planned pro-monument event at Richmond’s Robert E. Lee statue said Tuesday that he called it off over worries it would draw counter-protests. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney formed an advisory group in June to help add historical context to the city’s Confederate monuments, and opposes them as they currently stand, a spokesman said.”
-Jon Kamp and Jennifer Levitz, “After Charlottesville, Cities Brace for More Rallies, Monument Removals, Vandalism,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 15, 2017 04:23pm