Two newly filed lawsuits against the white nationalists and others who descended on Charlottesville during a summer rally aim to prevent the violent chaos that unfolded from happening again. One of the lawsuits was filed Thursday in Charlottesville Circuit Court on behalf of the city, local businesses and neighborhood associations. It accuses organizers of the August “Unite the Right” rally, leading figures in the white nationalist movement and their organizations, as well as private militia groups and their leaders, of violating Virginia law by organizing and acting as paramilitary units.
It doesn’t seek monetary damages but asks for a court order prohibiting “illegal paramilitary activity.” “Touted as an opportunity to protest the removal of a controversial Confederate statue, the event quickly escalated well beyond such constitutionally protected expression,” the lawsuit says. “Instead, private military forces transformed an idyllic college town into a virtual combat zone.”
Separately, 11 residents injured in the violence filed a lawsuit late Wednesday night in federal court in Charlottesville against a number of rally leaders and attendees. News of that lawsuit was first reported by The Washington Post.
The rally drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville, as well as hundreds of counterprotesters. The two sides began brawling in the streets before the rally got underway, throwing punches, unleashing chemical sprays and setting off smoke bombs. At least one person fired a gun. Later, a woman was killed when a car drove into a crowd protesting the white nationalists.
The lawsuit filed in state court reconstructs the events of the day in detail, citing social media posts of the defendants, media accounts and documents. It says the white nationalist organizations weren’t functioning as individuals exercising their Second Amendment rights but as members of a “fighting force.”
It asks that they be held in violation of several state laws. Otherwise, the lawsuit says, “Charlottesville will be forced to relive the frightful spectacle of August 12: an invasion of roving paramilitary bands and unaccountable vigilante peacekeepers.”
The plaintiffs are being represented by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University and regional law firm MichieHamlett. The Charlottesville City Council voted to join the lawsuit in a special session Thursday morning.
“Our community was invaded by private armies on August 12 and lives were lost,” local attorney Lee Livingston said in a statement. “As we search for answers and a way forward together, we expect this suit will unify us on at least one thing – a stand against private armies invading the public square – and give our public servants who enforce the law a tool to protect all citizens who gather in public places.”
The federal lawsuit takes a different approach, accusing the white nationalists of violating state and federal civil rights laws. It seeks a jury trial and asks for monetary damages and a ban on similar gatherings.
“The aim of this lawsuit is to ensure that nothing like this will happen again at the hands of Defendants — not on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, and not anywhere else in the United States of America,” it says.
White nationalist Richard Spencer, a defendant in the federal lawsuit, told The Associated Press he had just learned of it and didn’t have any immediate comment. Attempts to reach a number of other defendants in both cases were not immediately successful.
AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
How is it that white nationalists can be sued, but BLM cannot be according to a U.S. judge? Jewish first organizations can’t be either can’t be either, only whites. The people involved against the peaceful protests with permits can be sued by rioters who are attacking them without state permits to assemble in the streets. Such jewish controlled judiciary hypocrisy…..
The federal lawsuit takes a different approach, accusing the white nationalists of violating state and federal civil rights laws. It seeks a jury trial and asks for monetary damages and a ban on similar gatherings.
“The aim of this lawsuit is to ensure that nothing like this will happen again at the hands of Defendants — not on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, and not anywhere else in the United States of America,” it says.
That says it all. Where is the suit against Antifa and BLM members who were bussed in to attack the law abiding whites? Whites who were there protesting legally. What about their civil rights and free speech rights and their right to assemble? They didn’t go find communists and blacks to attack. Jew bussed the attackers in, then sue whites so they may not be able to assemble legally anywhere in the USA again.
Their genocidal attack on the white race will not be forgotten this time around.
Here’s the article from the local paper:
http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/city-joins-suit-to-prevent-armed-citizen-mobilizations/article_3053319a-af09-11e7-8f08-cf9467939c45.html
“The complaint names more than a dozen individuals and organizations as defendants, including the Pennsylvania and New York chapters of the Light Foot Militia, the Virginia Minutemen Militia, Redneck Revolt and the Socialist Rifle Association.”