100 Counter-Demonstrators at KKK Rally that Didn’t Happen

Anti-KKK protest (Alleyeceeing / Twitter)
Alleyeceeing / Twitter

Roughly 100 counter-demonstrators arrived in Danville, Virginia to show their opposition to a Ku Klux Klan rally on Saturday — but that KKK rally never actually happened.

Local ABC News affiliate WLOS reported:

The Danville Police Department says it was told by the Caswell County, North Carolina Sheriff’s Office around noon Saturday that a caravan of 60 to 80 anti-KKK protesters was leaving Pelham, North Carolina and headed to Danville.

Police say the group arrived in Danville and went to the Sutherlin Mansion on Main Street. According to police, after talking with members of the group, they were told that group believed a KKK rally was supposed to occur there and their intent was to engage in a counter-protest.

When they learned there was no protest, the counter-protesters went to lunch, then returned to stage a peaceful demonstration against the KKK anyway, WLOS reported.

Similar incidents were reported across North Carolina, where counter-protesters showed up on Saturday to oppose the KKK but there was only one actual rally, “a quick parade of vehicles” in Roxboro, according to the Raleigh-area News and Observer.

In the days after Donald Trump won the election, Democrats had played up talk of a KKK parade in celebration.

“We have a responsibility to say that it is not normal for the KKK – the Ku Klux Klan – to celebrate the election of a president they view as their champion with a victory parade. They have one scheduled,” said outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on the Senate floor.

The scheduled “parade” never happened — at least not as planned — but protests were staged across the Tar Heel State.

The News and Observer notes that in addition to Raleigh:

The Loyal White Knights of the KKK was expected to gather in Pelham, just south of the Virginia state line in Caswell County. The group didn’t show …

Anti-KKK rallies and March for Love events also were planned in other cities [in addition to Pelham and Raleigh], including Salisbury, Durham, Charlotte and Mebane. The events were organized after a November announcement that the Loyal White Knights would hold a Klavalkade Klan Parade to celebrate the election.

Vice.com gave credit to the counter-protesters for scaring away the KKK, saying that the extremist group resorted to playing “cat-and-mouse” with their opponents:

Protesters in Pelham this Saturday armed themselves a mix of attire, readied for any outcome–from a musical instruments to baseball bats. But the confrontation never came. Instead, the KKK played cat and mouse with counter protesters, first moving the parade from the morning in Pelham to the afternoon in Danville about 20 minutes away, and then back towards Pelham, and then in Danville again.

The KKK has historically been associated with the Democratic Party. The late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), whom Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called her “friend and mentor” in 2010, had been a member of the Klan.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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