(VOVWORLD) - A woman was killed and dozens were injured on Saturday when hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and alt-right activists, clashed with counter-protesters in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia.
 Demonstrators clash late Saturday morning in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo: cnn.com) |
The Charlottesville city council immediately empowered Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas to impose a curfew, while the FBI launched a civil rights investigation.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, the city council voted unanimously to empower Charlottesville Chief of Police Al Thomas to restrict the movement of any person or vehicles in the city. The council granted the police chief broad authority to keep people off the streets. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe called on citizens to refrain from violent acts and return to their homes.
President Donald Trump, who is vacationing in New Jersey, condemned the violence as an egregious display of hatred and bigotry. He called for "a swift restoration of law and order and the protection of innocent lives.”
President Trump said he had spoken with Governor McAuliffe and they agreed on the need to end all hate and division immediately.
Trump said the federal government is ready to help Virginia authorities maintain order and he appealed to Americans to unite regardless of race, color, religion, or political party.
Charlottesville, the home of President Thomas Jefferson, is a liberal-leaning city of 47,000 people. In last year’s presidential election, 80% of the city’s voters voted for Hillary Clinton.
In recent months, right-wing activists and Ku Klux Klan members had begun protesting plans to remove from a Charlottesville park a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Last weekend, extreme right groups converged on Charlottesville to attend a "Unite the Right" rally.