Two Tennessee towns braced for “White Lives Matter” rallies on Saturday, fearful of a repeat of the Charlottesville rallies earlier this year that cost a counter-protester her life.
Local business owners boarded up windows and a prayer vigil was held blocks from the rally site Friday evening, according to USA Today.
Organizers of the white nationalist rallies said their focus was on protesting refugee resettlement and immigration to Middle Tennessee, pointing out the Somali and Sudanese people in the region.
The first of the two events, which was set to be held in Shelbyville, Tenn., brought in more than 50 counter-protesters.
“We can’t let hate go unchecked in the nation,” Vegas Longlois, a counter-protester and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, told USA Today.
The League of the South, one of the white nationalist groups that helped organize the rally, protested by carrying a Confederate flag and a sign calling “southern cultural genocide,” according to the publication.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam told reporters both state and local law enforcement officials would “in full force” for the rallies.
