Officials deny permit for violent rally anniversary event

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that City Manager Maurice Jones wrote Monday that the “proposed demonstration or special event will present a danger to public safety.” (Photo from http://www.charlottesville.org/departments-and-services/departments-a-g/city-manager-s-office)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.— Officials in Charlottesville, Virginia, have denied a permit requested by an organizer of the August white nationalist protest that turned violent.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that City Manager Maurice Jones wrote Monday that the “proposed demonstration or special event will present a danger to public safety.”

Jason Kessler, a Charlottesville resident who was the primary organizer of the Aug. 12 protest, called “Unite the Right,” requested the permit last month to hold a two-day rally for the event’s one-year anniversary.

In his application, Kessler described the event purpose as a “rally against government civil rights abuse and failure to follow security plans for political dissidents.”

Jones wrote that “no reasonable allocation of city funds or resources can guarantee that event participants will be free of any ‘threat of violence.”’