Charlottesville mayor tells white supremacists to ‘go home’ after groups return for torch-lit march

‘Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards. You are not welcome here!’ city’s mayor says

City workers drape a tarp over the statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee in Emancipation Park, where white nationalists gathered this weekend (AP)

White supremacists returned to Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, rallying in the same place where a woman was killed in violent clashes after being mowed down by a car less than two months ago.

With torches in hand, the group led by far-right figurehead Richard Spencer and blogger Jason Kessler gathered in Emancipation Park, where neo-Nazis had rallied in August to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.

NBC reported that there were as many as 30 protesters in the park surrounding the statue, which has been covered after its removal was blocked by a court pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

Mr Spencer posted a video on Twitter showing the protest, in which opponents of the removal of Lee’s statue could be heard chanting: “You will not replace us” and “We will be back”.

Charlottesville’s mayor, Mike Signer, fired back with angry response, tweeting to Spencer to “go home”.

“Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards. You are not welcome here!” Mr Signer tweeted, adding: “We’re looking at all our legal options. Stay tuned.”

Mr Spencer disregarded the warning, tweeting back to the mayor: “It was great to be back in C’ville. We can catch up next time we’re in town.”

He also posted a video to Twitter following Saturday’s protest, calling it a “success”.

“Charlottesville 3.0 was a great success. It was a lot of fun,” he said. “We came, we triggered, we left.” He added that there were “no injuries, no major confrontations”.

Earliest this week, activists in the Virginia town claimed to have chased Mr Kessler, who helped organise August’s deadly rally, out of a city council meeting.

The right-wing blogger had signed up to speak at a town meeting, but a city council member told The Independent that when his name was called out, someone in the audience shouted: “We chased him out of town!”

“We found him and his friends and we chased him out of town tonight," another alleged. "That’s why he’s not in this room right now."

The council member said the room erupted in applause, with official saying: “That’s appreciated” through his microphone.

An August rally organised to protest the removal of the Lee statue turned deadly when counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed by a car driven into a crowd.

The violence stemmed from a heated national debate over whether Confederate statues memorialising past leaders and dead soldiers served to invoke white supremacy and the Confederacy’s acceptance of the enslavement of black people.

Shortly after the deadly rally, US cities acted quickly to remove monuments to the confederacy, tearing down statues overnight to avoid conflict.