The city manager in Charlottesville, Virginia, has denied applications from individuals seeking permission to hold events next August on the first anniversary of the deadly “Unite the Right” demonstration infamously marred by violent clashes between participants and counterprotesters.
“The proposed demonstration or special event presents a danger to public safety and it cannot be accommodated within a reasonable allocation of city funds and/or police resources,” Charlottesville’s city manager, Maurice Jones, explained in each of five rejection letters sent Monday to would-be rally organizers.
“There is no person or entity authorized to sign the application on behalf of a group applying for a permit and/or there is no person or legal entity willing to accept responsibility for the group’s adherence to the limitations set forth within the City’s special events regulations,” Mr. Jones wrote.
Thousands of people either participated in or protested “Unite the Right,” a demonstration held on Aug. 12 in response to Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park.
The event attracted Neo-Nazis, Klansmen and other white supremacists to come protest.
Clashes erupted between both sides before the event officially began, and a motorist later drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring 19 others, according to police.
White nationalist blogger and “Unite the Right” organizer Jason Kessler filed an application with the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department last month requesting permission to hold a rally on the first anniversary of the event, and within days the city received at least four other applications from individuals hoping to hold events of their own that same weekend.
Mr. Kessler threatened to sue Charlottesville after his permit application was one of five rejected by the city manager’s office Monday.
“The *initial* permit decision is bogus. The rationale they give for denying it almost makes it seem like they want me to win. See you guys in court!” Mr. Kessler tweeted Monday. “Rally still happening in Charlottesville’s Lee Park August 11-12th, 2018!”
Other applicants denied by the city Monday include Bob Fenwick, a city councilor who previously voted to remove the Lee statue that spurred the initial “Unite the Right” protest, as well as University of Virginia professor Walt Heinecke, Brian Lambert and M.A. Shurtleff.
Neither Mr. Fenwick nor Mr Lambert immediately returned messages seeking comment. Phone numbers listed on the rejection letters sent to Mr. Heinecke were inoperable Tuesday, and neither a phone number nor an email address could be immediately found belonging to the other applicant.
A law firm hired by Charlottesville to conduct an investigation of the Aug. 12 rally and similar events concluded that state and local officials and senior city police officials failed on multiple fronts to take adequate security measures before and during “Unite the Right,” according to the results of their review released earlier this month.
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