Later this week, former U. S. Attorney Tim Heaphy is expected to report on his investigation of what happened in Charlottesville on August 11th and 12th. Meanwhile, the man who organized the ill-fated Unite the Right rally is apparently organizing another rally for the one-year anniversary.
On his blog, Jason Kessler announces he’s applied for a new permit to protest in what he still calls Lee Park on August 11 and 12 of 2018. Kessler predicts the city will refuse that request, but he says he’s “ready for that fight.” He admits that in August he was not an experienced organizer and thought police would separate his allies from people demonstrating against them. Kessler accuses police of secretly allowing conflicts so they could clear the park and put an end to the United the Right rally there.
This time he says he and his lawyers will demand that police release security plans in advance, and stop people from carrying bricks, knives, flamethrowers and baseball bats, adding that “there is no place for thuggery at a free speech rally.”
Kessler, who now lives in Ohio, claims he’s planning the event because he doesn’t want others to use the occasion to “further demonize activists.” In a long, profanity-filled entry, he attacks one speaker at the rally, presumably Alt-Right founder Richard Spencer. “I assumed that because he was a millionaire and had successfully challenged several universities in court that he would have connections, legal and otherwise which I could have relied on. “Now,” he concludes, “I have my own lawyers, they’re paid up, and we’re more than ready for legal warfare.”
A spokesman for the city would only say that Kessler’s request is under review. He goes on trial for perjury in March and could, conceivably, be locked up through the time he plans this next gathering.
