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DHS Warned Charlottesville Law Enforcement Of Potential For Violence

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Robert Donachie Capitol Hill and Health Care Reporter
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned Charlottesville law enforcement officials three days before white nationalist and anarchist groups descended upon the town that there was potential for the protest to be “among the most violent to date,” Politico reports.

DHS issued a report on Aug. 9 that detailed two prior meetings between white supremacist groups and Antifa extremists in Charlottesville that turned violent. The previous rallies, DHS reported, in May and June culminated in violent outbursts, injuries, and arrests.

DHS also warned that both white supremacist and Antifa groups planned for weeks for the two previous rallies in Charlottesville, and called these planned attacks “the principal drivers of violence.”

“Anarchist extremists and white supremacist extremists online are calling on supporters to be prepared for or to instigate violence at the 12 August rally,” the DHS report read.

Despite the reported warnings, protestors met in Emancipation Park in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. The protests ended in dozens of injuries and one death, after a car driven by a white supremacist barreled into a crowd Saturday afternoon during clashes between white supremacists, Black Lives Matter, Antifa and other groups.

President Donald Trump faced an onslaught of negative press and attacks from congressional Republicans Monday, who said the president did not do enough to specifically call out the perpetrators of the Charlottesville protests over the weekend.

The president’s immediate response in the wake of the protests was that he condemned violence on “many sides,” but failed to call out white supremacist groups. Trump amended his comments the following afternoon, saying that he thinks there is “blame on both sides.”

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