Just up the street from the fracas, a community prayer meeting was held in St Pauls memorial church, addressed by several preachers including prominent civil rights leader Dr Cornel West. The end of the service overlapped with people and the torch parade waited for extended periods.
In an interview, West said: The crypto-fascists, the neofascists, the neo-Nazis now feel empowered by Trump but from the shift in the country towards scapegoats.
I dont like this talk about alt-right, thats an abstraction. These are neofascists in garb.
On Saturday the small school city will face a scale down Unite the Right rally, which is called the largest in a decade.
Far-right monitoring groups estimate that 30 prominent speakers and between 500 and 1,000 people and teams will descend around the area for the Saturday afternoon event, organised by rightwing activist and former Daily Caller writer Jason Kessler.
