A contingent of about 30 white nationalists was seen marching down a Washington street toward the White House surrounded by a protective bubble of police officers and vehicles, per the AP. Hundreds of counterprotesters were walking alongside the group but keeping on the sidewalks, many of them shouting and taunting the nationalists as they make their way to a park in front of the White House. The demonstration and counterdemonstration come on the anniversary of last year's deadly gathering of neo-Nazis, skinheads, Ku Klux Klan members, and others in Charlottesville, Virginia. Sunday's gathering was being led by the principal organizer of last year's "Unite the Right" event, Jason Kessler, who calls the demonstration a rally for white civil rights.
Meanwhile, Some 1,000 protesters gathered in Freedom Plaza near the White House to rally against a white nationalist demonstration. The demonstration is being held on the first anniversary of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned violent and led to the death of a counterprotester. Makia Green, who represents the Washington branch of Black Lives Matter, told Sunday's crowd that: "We know from experience that ignoring white nationalism doesn't work." The counterprotesters planned to march to Lafayette Square in front of the White House and arrive before the white nationalists. Police erected a maze of barricades to keep the two sides apart. The counterprotesters were expected to far outnumber the white nationalists. (More white nationalism stories.)