KKK Rally In Virginia: 'Members Will Be Armed' For Charlottesville Protest

(Updated 3:07 p.m.) CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — A Ku Klux Klan rally is set for Saturday at Charlottesville's Lee Park over the planned removal of a Confederate statue, and leaders of the hate group have warned that its members will be carrying firearms and are prepared to use them. When the white supremacist group had applied and received a city permit in June to hold the rally, the community, about 100 miles from the nation's capital, began bracing itself.

A KKK member told The Washington Post, "our members will be armed" and will respond if attacked. Local police are expecting hundreds of people to attend the rally, according to The Daily Progress in Charlottesville. Police are also receiving assistance from Virginia State Police, University of Virginia Police and the local fire department and sheriff's office.

Local leaders told The Post residents should avoid confrontations with the KKK. "The only thing they seem to want is division and confrontation and a twisted kind of celebrity," Mayor Michael Signer told The Post. "The most successful defiance will be to refuse to take their bait and continue to tell our story. Then their memory of Charlottesville will be of a community that repudiated them by not getting drawn into their pathetic drama.”

A local NAACP chapter and other organizations will hold counter-protest events throughout the day, UVA's student newspaper The Cavalier Daily reports. In addition, UVA's library will have a "safe space," along with other campus organizations. (Subscribe to a Virginia Patch News Alert and Newsletter. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

The college town has been the site for white nationalist events after the city council announced its intent to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee. The Charlottesville City Council voted in April to sell the Lee statue in a city park, but the city cannot do so for six months since a judge issued an injunction earlier this month. A judge will hear arguments on dismissing the injunction on Aug. 30.

Back in May, white nationalists led by Richard Spencer protested the city's decision, chanting in the park, "You will not replace us." The Daily Progress reports that the white nationalists involved in the May rally have applied for a permit for an Aug. 12 gathering in the park. In addition, the Traditionalist Workers Party, a socialist and white nationalist organization, said it would hold an event also in August.

A Facebook group opposing the removal of the Confederate leader's statue has more than 16,000 followers.

Confederate symbols have become a hot topic in the governor's race. Unsuccessful Republican candidate Corey Stewart made the protection of Confederate symbols a major point in his campaign, a decision that lost him key Republican supporters.

Stewart told the Post he would not attend the KKK rally but said, “It’s unfortunate that there is a horrible organization like the Klan that tries to hijack this issue. I believe in protecting historical monuments. I believe you cannot sanitize or erase history. But for the KKK, it’s all about race. That’s not what this is all about. The KKK is a racist organization that has no place in Virginia.”

Gubernatorial candidates Ed Gillespie, a Republican and Ralph Northam, a Democrat, condemned the KKK rally.

“This weekend, the Ku Klux Klan is rallying in Charlottesville to share an ideology of hatred and bigotry, which conflict with Virginia’s values of openness, diversity, and inclusion. I am calling on Ed Gillespie to join me in condemning this disgusting attempt to intimidate the people of Charlottesville," said Northam in a statement.