Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an order Thursday activating the city’s emergency safety plan ahead of this weekend’s white supremacist rally, Unite the Right 2.
The rally takes place one year after a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Counterprotester Heather Heyer was run over and killed during the event.
Sunday’s rally is set to take place in Lafayette Square in front of the White House.
[More: Virginia, Charlottesville declare states of emergency ahead of ‘Unite the Right’ anniversary]
Bowser said Thursday she had activated the city’s Emergency Operations Center to “level two,” which allows local, state
, and federal agencies to coordinate their resources.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said during a news conference that his department is focused on
avoiding the
mistakes Charlottesville authorities made during last year’s rally. Newsham said police were criticized for failing to coordinate local and state resources, as well as failing to keep protesters and counterprotesters separated.
“When these two groups have been in the same area at the same time, it leads to violent confrontations,” he said. “Our goal is to prevent that from happening.”
The National Park Service, however, has granted Unite the Right 2 organizer Jason Kessler as well as one counterprotest being planned by ANSWER Coalition permits for Lafayette Square on Sunday, according to a spokeswoman.
Newsham said U.S. Secret Service, U.S.
P
ark
P
olice, Metro Transit police, police for Fairfax and Arlington counties, and Virginia State Police have been coordinating the response for Sunday’s rally.
