Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has tweeted that the United States should “tackle white supremacy,” rather than meddle in international affairs, following the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.
“If U.S. has any power, they better manage their country, tackle white supremacy, rather than meddle in nations’ affairs,” Khamenei’s official Twitter account posted Wednesday, adding the hash tag “Charlottesville.”
(Twitter)
It was a deadly weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white nationalist rally spiraled out of control, resulting in the death of a 32-year-old woman when a car plowed into a group of counter-protestors on Water Street, as well as the death of two Virginia State Troopers who were patrolling the assembly in a helicopter.
Police have since charged a 20-year-old man with intentionally driving a car into the crowd of counter-protestors, according to reports. The Ohio man is reportedly a Nazi sympathizer.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said the incident and death of Heather Heyer was “car terrorism,” The New York Times reported, and that it could not have been prevented.
“You can’t stop some crazy guy who came here from Ohio and used his car as a weapon,” McAuliffe said. “He is a terrorist.”
The “Unite the Right” rally was held on Saturday in Emancipation Park, around a statue of the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
In addition to Heyer’s death, two Virginia State Police Troopers died in a helicopter crash while they were patrolling the rally from above.
“Lt. H. Jay Cullen, 48, of Midlothian, was the pilot of the Bell 407 helicopter that crashed near Old Farm Road and was engulfed in flames,” the Richmond-Times Dispatch reported. “Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, of Quinton, who previously had served on Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s protection unit, died at the scene.”
[revad2]
