Originally Posted by
Southron
Alright here's what I saw from being with the Alt-Right guys who were actually able to make it to the park.
After 10AM we started moving towards Lee Park with several hundred people. We didn't make up everyone who attended but we had quite a force and riot shields up front. Antifa was completely blocking the stair entrance to Lee Park. The Virginia State Police were nowhere to be seen keeping anyone apart. We were able to push our way up to the rally point. Many people got spat on and maced and pepper sprayed in the face trying to enter the park by Antifa, including at least one camera man (from Infowars I think) Dozens of people were treated by medics in the groups to counteract the sprays. With that stuff in your eyes and nose you are pretty much helpless. Our guys were pretty much attacked the entire way up. As a side note, we were told there was an anti mask law in Virginia and that anyone wearing gas masks would be arrested so not everyone was equipped for the Antifa attacks. Of course many Antifa were seen wearing masks and I didn't see any arrested.
Once we got into Lee Park it became more apparent that they may not let the rally take place. Most of the park was barricaded and the people attending the rally were forced to stay pretty close to Antifa. Lee's statue was behind the barricade so we couldn't really get that close to it. Interestingly enough, almost all the State Police were positioned not in between Antifa and the rally, but behind the Alt-right guys. While we had our own people blocking the entrance and keeping Antifa from coming up once we got in position, they pretty much continued to attack the entire time. They had homemade concoctions of some kind that they kept hurling at people up front. They threw rocks, urine, bottles and I think some sort of tear gas at us. A few times it was hard to breathe. I was told one guy got pulled into the Antifa crowd by several people and beaten pretty badly. This entire time the police just watched, mostly from behind us.
After we made it to the park I'm not sure if any smaller groups were able to make it in. I spoke with a couple fellows who arrived late and had small numbers and were attacked by Antifa and they never made it to the rally spot.
At some, I believe Antifa starting hurling some kind of tear gas and all the Virginia State police started backing up even further than they already were and sometime after 11:00 the Virginia State Police (who were still behind us) got on the bull horn and said it had been declared an "unlawful assembly" and we had 10 minutes to leave the park or be arrested. Well, then they finally started to go into action. They formed a long line behind us with riot shields and started inching towards us, forcing us towards the Antifa who were still attacking people. (So to stop this "violence" they were forcing us into the people committing violence?) At this point I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I know their barricades were knocked down because we had to get out of the park another way. I don't know how many people had to go down through Antifa as the groups all became fragmented at this point with the police pushing in with nowhere to go. We were unable to walk back to parking so I think most people had to be picked up from a different location. It appeared that Antifa was allowed to stay but they forced us out.
It seems that they had no attention of ever letting the rally take place. They had most of the park barricaded off, forced us to be right on top of Antifa while ignoring attacks, and positioned themselves right behind us so they could push us right back into them. If I believed in Karma, I might say that's what the State Police helicopter crash was....