United States: in Charlottesville, the American radical right finds itself in the dock

Members of the Ku Klux Klan demonstrate under the protection of the police and under the eyes of anti-racist opponents who came in large numbers on July 8, 2017 in Charlottesville (illustrative image).

REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

In the United States opens, Monday, October 25, a long-awaited trial in federal court in Charlottesville.

It was in this small town in Virginia that in August 2017 clashes between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators left one dead and at least 19 injured.

Nine of these victims filed a complaint.

More than four years after the fact, they want to demonstrate that the violence of the white supremacists had been planned and that it is part of the very ideology of the American radical right.

At the time, the events in Charlottesville had shocked far beyond American borders because they sent back to the darkest time of racial violence in the United States.

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In the light of torches, hundreds of white supremacists and members of the Ku Klux Klan march at night on the campus of the University of Charlottesville.

It is August 11, 2017. The next day, far-right militias are positioned in the city center.

In paramilitary attire, armed with rifles, they wear swastikas and wave Confederate flags.

Trump arouses outrage

Violent clashes broke out with counter-demonstrators, who had come in large numbers.

In the evening, a neo-Nazi drove his car into the crowd.

Heather Heyer, 32, died instantly, and 19 others were injured.

A few hours later, President Donald Trump arouses outrage, declaring: "

 I think there are wrongs on both sides

 ". 

Twenty-four organizers of the march and organizations of the American radical right are today in the dock.

The plaintiffs want to demonstrate that the violence of white supremacists was premeditated, in Charlottesville but also more broadly during other clashes in recent years, such as the assault on the Capitol on January 6. 

US authorities have recently called domestic extremism one of the biggest threats to US security. 

To read also: United States: Charlottesville debunks its Confederate statues after years of controversy

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