counter-protestors

*This is a developing story.

Germany, ever struggling with their historical demons, has just seen two days of clashes between far-right wing protesters, neo-Nazis, counter-protesters, anti-fascists, and the police. The clashes have taken place in the town of Chemnitz, a town in Saxony in Eastern Germany. Having started after an alleged lethal stabbing by Iraqi and Syrian refugees at a popular street festival, far-right wing protesters took to the streets on Sunday.

According to the BBC, about 100 protesters initially gathered without incident, yet a short time later an additional 1,000 protesters joined their ranks in the city center. The demonstration of far-right protesters was further aided by calls from groups like Pegida, known in English as the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West, while another far-right politician was quoted as saying, “If the state is no longer to protect citizens then people take to the streets and protect themselves. It’s as simple as that!”

Protesters have been filmed giving Nazi salutes and yelling for “foreigners” to leave the country, while German police have said they are now investigating alleged assaults against an Afghan, Bulgarian, and Syrian due to the protests. Yet as the night wore on and the ranks of protesters grew, so did the ranks of the counter-protesters and anti-fascists, who have also massed in the city chanting “refugees welcome.”

Monday was the second night of clashes which left several people wounded as police attempt to contain the situation. The New York Times just reported that after a break in the clashes mid-day on Monday, they resumed towards the evening with thousands of protesters marching with German flags “Chemnitz is ours — foreigners out.” They were also joined by groups of neo-Nazis, who eventually broke through the police barricades. Usage of projectiles: bottles, fireworks, and other items have been reportedly used by both protesters and counter-protesters.

The spokesman for the Prime Minister, Angela Merkel, told journalists. “We don’t tolerate such unlawful assemblies and the hounding of people who look different or have different origins and attempts to spread hatred on the streets.”

This weekend, anti-racists, anti-fascists, student protesters, clergy, and everyday citizens proved that, when it counts, people will stand up against those who would seek to perpetuate violent and vile ideologies. That is not to say that the mainstreaming of white supremacy isn’t ongoing within the nation’s politics, but this past weekend in Charlottesville and Washington, D.C. proved the space for white nationalists, supremacists, fascists, and xenophobes to publicly gather is shrinking.

And every counter-protester who took to the streets this weekend, regardless of motivation or ideology, took part in a grand display of anti-fascism.

While that term has been politicized by those who attempt to rationalize the ideas espoused by white nationalists, for those who are seeking to challenge the worst excesses of this new complex political reality, it is the glue that ultimately binds people together. The unfortunate perception driven by mainstream media outlets, some misguided like CNN, others entirely nefarious like Fox News, is that these counter-protests and demonstrations are nothing but packs of violent anarchists, equivalent with violent white supremacists.

Let’s not forget, who actually killed someone last year? Not the disparate groups of people marching against racism and anti-Semitism. The counter-demonstrators, comprised of community organizers, young professionals, parents with their children, housing advocates, students, clergy, and faith-leaders, who, while disparate, were all committed to the idea that overt displays of racism and anti-Semitism have no place in our public squares.

RVA Mag was on the frontlines of both events, however, this photo journal is an account of the events in Washington, DC this past Sunday, when over 5,000 counter-protesters denied space for white supremacists to rally in the nation’s capital. The same white supremacists who marauded through UVA last year chanting “Jews will not replace us.”

This was a powerful message to send in 2018 when the president refused to publicly denounce the march planned by Jason Kessler, and, as of publication time, has just publicly referred to a black woman as a “dog.”

Some of the best photos from the weekend can be found below:

Landon Shroder: Managing Partner