Trauma of Charlottesville Rally Is Soundtrack to Start of Civil Trial
The New York Times
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages from the far-right organizers of a violent rally in 2017, accusing them of violating the civil rights of minorities by plotting violence.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — As a series of videos depicting a violent rally in Charlottesville, Va., were played in court on Thursday, Elizabeth Sines reached for a tissue to wipe away her tears. Racist chants could be heard in the footage of a torch-lit march, along with the chilling screams after one rallygoer drove his car into a stunned crowd of counterprotesters, killing a woman.
Ms. Sines, who took some of the videos, was among the nine plaintiffs who appeared in court for the first time as opening statements began in the civil case stemming from that far-right rally in August 2017. The plaintiffs, sitting behind their lawyers, faced two rows of defendants — white nationalists and neo-Nazis — and their lawyers across the courtroom.
The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages from the main organizers of the Charlottesville rally, accusing them of violating the civil rights of minorities by plotting violence against them beforehand, which is illegal under a law dating from the Civil War era.
