The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is fighting back after Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the group is responsible for the deadly white supremacist rally Saturday getting out of control.
The ACLU of Virginia sued the city of Charlottesville on Thursday over permitting for the white supremacist protest.
In an interview with NPR, McAuliffe said, “The city of Charlottesville asked for that to be moved out of downtown Charlottesville to a park about a mile and a half away – a lot of open fields. That was the place that it should’ve been. We were, unfortunately, sued by the ACLU. And the judge ruled against us.”
In a statement, the group said the police on Saturday were responsible for the dangerous protest where one woman, Heather Heyer, died after a car plowed into counter-protesters. Many others were injured.
McAuliffe said the rally should not have been downtown.
“We got to look at these permits, and we got to look at where we put these rallies and protesters. I got to protect public safety. And our police did a magnificent job.”
ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire G. Gastanaga said McAuliffe was using the group as a scapegoat.
“It is my firm hope and desire that the governor and other state and local officials will learn from this past weekend how constitutionally to prevent events like the horror we saw in Charlottesville from ever happening again.”
