DOWNTOWN — Black Lives Matter and other groups will protest recent violence in Charlottesville, Va. Tuesday afternoon in the Loop, denouncing a white supremacy movement the protesters feel is emboldened by President Donald Trump.
The rally will start at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Federal Plaza, 230 S. Dearborn St. The Black Lives Matter activists will be joined by other groups including the Arab American Action Network, Organized Communities Against Deportations and Jewish Voice For Peace. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression organized the event.
The protest will be the second in Chicago condemning racism since a deadly "Unite The Right" rally this weekend in Virginia that left three people dead. Trump has been widely criticized for his response to the violence, which included an initial statement that cast blame "on many sides."
"The murder and attempted murder of anti-racist demonstrators Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., by armed thugs marching under the banners of openly white supremacist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organizations is not an isolated incident," the Chicago activists said in a statement.
Hundreds of Chicagoans marched to the Trump International Hotel & Tower on the Chicago River on Sunday after the violent protests in Charlottesville. A local flower shop now refuses to sell to customers who refuse to condemn "racism, Nazism and fascism" while shopping online.
The activists Tuesday are also largely behind a weekly series of Downtown protests that began after Trump was elected president.
An Ohio man faces murder charges after allegedly killing a 32-year-old woman with his car during the rally Saturday in Charlottesville, the home of the University of Virginia. Two Virginia state troopers patrolling were killed in a helicopter crash while patrolling the rally, which drew hordes of far-right activists, including pro-Confederate and white supremacist groups and counterprotesters.
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