Chris Cantwell, a white nationalist featured on fliers promoting the recent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, warned that violence between his crew and anti-fascists would escalate unless police did more to stop it, in an interview with VICE News Tuesday night.
Cantwell, who was involved in a brawl on the University of Virginia campus the night before the rally, said Wednesday that he’s turning himself in to the campus police. He’s known authorities had warrants out for his arrest for three felony charges related to the brawl, but he claims he acted in self-defence.
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Cantwell asserts that police hold groups like antifa, radical left counter-protesters, to a lower standard than his allies. He told VICE News:
They get to do whatever they want. We get prosecuted every time we reach out. And it becomes socially acceptable to assault us. What eventually happens is, you saw how fucking dangerous — you know how fucking dangerous we are. You know what I’m saying?
Cantwell’s charges stem from the tiki torch march through the UVA campus that night of August 11, which ended at a statue of Thomas Jefferson encircled by a few dozen counter protesters. A melee ensued when hundreds of the torch-bearing white nationalists surrounded the counter protesters.
