Gov. McAuliffe was interviewed this morning on NPR and boy was he angry about how Charlottesville went down this weekend. The part about the ACLU and judges begins at 5:35 (audio below; bolding added by me for emphasis).
I will tell you this, though, David, we asked – the city of Charlottesville – asked for that to be moved out of downtown Charlottesville to a park about a mile and a half away, a lot of open fields, that was the place that it should have been. We were unfortunately sued by the ACLU and the judge ruled against us. That rally should not have been in the middle of downtown…It became a powder keg. And we’ve gotta look at these permits and we’ve gotta look at where we put these rallies and protesters. I’ve got to protect public safety and our police did a magnificent job.…And I’ll tell you this, the city of Charlottesville wanted to move it, which was the smart decision. Number two, they tried to ban any sticks and poles, which were used as weapons on Saturday. These were all denied. So I did talk to my Attorney General yesterday; we’ve got to get a better understanding with these judges…Our job is to keep our community safe. I’m all for free speech – peaceful free speech. But to put all these people with all these weapons who came in from out of state…they came here to hurt people, and they came with guns…The lesson I learned is we’ve got to do a better job of working with the judiciary; they need to listen to the local city officials about where these permits are allowed…our job’s to protect…and the judiciary needs to do a better job of working with us. I am angry that this was not moved to McIntire Park where the city of Charlottesville had requested. I am very angry today, because these people were dispersed, and that allowed this guy with a car to run through downtown Charlottesville with people everywhere.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
