--- description: Prominent white supremacists returned to Charlottesville, Virginia for a torch rally — prompting criticism from the town's mayor title: White Nationalists Carrying Torches Descend on Charlottesville Again image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0adcdd95bf5d64df/6988e1020a4a22634c9d03a1/charlottesville-richard-spencer.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Virginia](/tag/virginia/) ## Virginia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # White Nationalists Carrying Torches Descend on Charlottesville Again ## Video: Violent Clashes Turn Deadly in Charlottesville During White Nationalist Rally [Watch (HLS stream): Violent Clashes Turn Deadly in Charlottesville During White Nationalist Rally](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iysa0LFG.m3u8) (1:50)  _Published 2017-08-12. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of violence in Charlottesville leading up to the "Unite the Right" rally Saturday._  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2017 2:34 PM CUT  White nationalist Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Charlottesville, VA. on Aug. 12, 2017 White nationalist Richard Spencer and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Charlottesville, VA. on Aug. 12, 2017Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 8, 2017 2:34 PM CUT White nationalists once again descended on Charlottesville, Va. for a torch rally Saturday night, less than two months after the college town[ descended into chaos ](http://time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/ "undefined")when violent clashes broke out between the group and people protesting them. Prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer and as many as 50 others held a brief rally with tiki torches in Emancipation park that lasted between five and 10 minutes, after which they boarded the bus and left the city, [CNN reports.](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/us/charlottesville-torch-rally/index.html "undefined") Charlottesville authorities are discussing the possibilities of legal action in response, according to a statement from local police. Video footage [posted on social media by Spencer](https://www.pscp.tv/w/1yoKMpodMMexQ "undefined") showed the group chanting “you will not replace us” and “Russia is our friend, the south will rise again.” Charlottesville Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME. Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer characterized the rally as “another despicable visit by Neo-Nazi cowards” in a Twitter post. “You’re not welcome here! Go home!” he tweeted. “Meantime we’re looking at all our legal options. Stay tuned.” “How are we ‘cowards?’ We came back,” Spencer replied on Twitter. “Also, you have no authority to ban American citizens from C’ville, doofus.” White nationalists demonstrated twice over the summer before the [“Unite the Right” rally in August](http://time.com/4952033/trump-nbc-wsj-poll-approval-democrats/ "undefined") that resulted in the [death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer](http://time.com/4906331/heather-heyer-mother-susan-bro-donald-trump/ "undefined") after a car plowed into a crowd of counter protesters. Spencer said [in a video posted on Twitter](https://twitter.com/RichardBSpencer/status/916818202948227072 "undefined") that “Charlottesville 3.0 was a great success.” “We came, we triggered, we left,” he said. “It was a great success and we’re going to do it again. It was definitely a model that should be repeated.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/"},"headline":"White Nationalists Carrying Torches Descend on Charlottesville Again","datePublished":"2017-10-08T14:34:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:46:41.603Z","description":"\"You will not replace us,\" they chanted","url":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/","keywords":["Virginia","Charlottesville","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0adcdd95bf5d64df/6988e1020a4a22634c9d03a1/charlottesville-richard-spencer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0adcdd95bf5d64df/6988e1020a4a22634c9d03a1/charlottesville-richard-spencer.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Violent Clashes Erupt at \"Unite The Right\" Rally In Charlottesville","caption":"Violent Clashes Erupt at \"Unite The Right\" Rally In Charlottesville","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/virginia/","name":"Virginia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/","name":"White Nationalists Carrying Torches Descend on Charlottesville Again"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Violent Clashes Turn Deadly in Charlottesville During White Nationalist Rally","description":"Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of violence in Charlottesville leading up to the \"Unite the Right\" rally Saturday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/iysa0LFG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-12T19:44:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/iysa0LFG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```