Portland Protesters Plan To “Eclipse Hate” At Friday Rally in Response to White-Power Violence in Virginia

Activists will gather to condemn white supremacists and far-right activists who marched on Charlottesville, Va.

Gregory McKelvey and Kat Stevens lead anti-Trump marchers on Inauguration Day. (William Gagan)

Portland's Resistance is holding an "Eclipse Hate" rally one week after a car rammed into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman and injuring 19 other people demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

The violence in Charlottesville erupted during an "alt-right" march attended by members of white supremacist organizations including the KKK, neo-Nazi groups and other far-right activists. The man behind the wheel of the gray Dodge that sped into a group of pedestrians has been identified as James Alex Fields, who attended the rally and was allegedly a neo-Nazi sympathizer. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the killing as an act of domestic terrorism.

Portland's Resistance, a left-wing protest movement that has concentrated on social justice and police reform along with decrying the policies of President Donald Trump, also called the attack by vehicle an act of "domestic terrorism by white supremacists" in a statement it released announcing its rally and march planned for Friday on the downtown waterfront.

For many, the violence in Charlottesville echoed the May attack in Portland by alt-right sympathizer Jeremy Christian, who stabbed three men on a MAX train after they defended two black teenagers, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Two of the men died.

"Just like Charlottesville, Portland has recently and historically faced
tragedy at the hands of white supremacy," Portland's Resistance said in a statement. "We stand against the division and destruction that festering racism brings both here and across the country. We will not tolerate hate in our city."

The rally and march will begin at the Salmon Street Springs at 5:30 p.m. Friday evening.

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