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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 16 august 2017

Man beaten at protest says police were indifferent to attack

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Schools, did not respond to
Associated Press messages from The Associ-
McLEAN, Va. (AP) — A ated Press seeking com-
Virginia man says police ment. A GoFundMe page
failed to come to his aid set up to help him with his
as he was beaten by white medical bills quickly raised
supremacists during Sat- more than $125,000.
urday’s violent protests in Police have set up a ho-
Charlottesville, Virginia, tline for people to report
that led to three deaths. crimes that occurred over
Photos and video of the weekend. At a press
the beating inflicted on conference Monday,
21-year-old DeAndre Har- Charlottesville Police Chief
ris have gone viral. Police Al Thomas said police re-
said Tuesday they are in- ceived 250 calls for service
vestigating the incident, Saturday. He said that in
portions of which were many cases, perpetrators
captured on video. One of assaults would “strike
person of interest has been and then disappear into
identified, but no arrests the crowd.”
have been made, city But the video and photos
spokeswoman Miriam Dick- captured by Roberts de-
In this Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017 photo, DeAndre Harris, bottom is assaulted in a parking garage ler said in a text message. pict a different scenario. In
beside the Charlottesville police station after a white nationalist rally was disbursed by police, in Harris was beaten in a park- an interview, Roberts said
Charlottesville, Va.
(Zach D. Roberts via AP) ing garage right next to the Harris and his friends were
city police station. yelling back and forth at
Zach Roberts, a documen- each other as the white
tary photographer, said he supremacists tossed racial
told police officers imme- epithets and Harris told the
diately after the beating protesters to “go home.”
what occurred and that he The white supremacists
had photos of the attack, chased Harris, who ran and
but they were not interest- crashed into a wooden
ed at the time. parking gate barrier, Rob-
Hundreds of white nation- erts said. He did not see if
alists, white supremacists, any specific event precipi-
neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan tated the escalation from
members and others con- a verbal confrontation to a
verged on Charlottesville physical one.
Saturday, ostensibly in an Harris, in a subsequent
effort unite right-wing fac- video interview with Rob-
tions in a city that became erts, said he would fade in
a flashpoint due to a pro- and out of consciousness
longed debate about as he was struck with poles
what to do with a statue of and the broken wooden
Confederate Gen. Robert gate. Photos taken by
E. Lee. Roberts show Harris on the
Rally participants clashed ground being beaten by
frequently with counter- men armed with poles and
protesters. One man linked sticks.
to white nationalist groups, “I keep hearing all this cha-
20-year-old James Alex os around me,” Harris said.
Fields Jr. of Ohio, has been “I feel myself getting hit. ...
charged with murder and Every time I get up, I lose
other counts after a fatal consciousness.”
hit-and-run crash that killed He suffered a broken wrist
woman and injured 19 oth- and a chipped tooth,
ers. and had eight staples in
Harris, an instructional assis- his scalp to close a head
tant at Charlottesville City wound.q