Mediaboss Marketing

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Hundreds gathered for a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally at the West Virginia State Capitol Sunday.

The rally was organized by the group Call to Action for Racial Equality and attracted approximately 400 people.

"We came out just to gather and make it clear that people do care about racial justice in West Virginia, and people really will show up and get to work on the things that matter," Takeiya Smith tells WSAZ, a college student and co-organizer of the rally. "We were planning this two months ago, and we got such a huge outpouring of support after Charlottesville, saying enough is enough. We're ready to show up."

According to officials with the Office of the Secretary Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, an estimated 400 people turned out for the event. In a press release, officials said the rally "proved peaceful and concluded without incident."

There were no counter-protesters that showed up, but several dozen armed people who call themselves "Three Percenters" were present. They came from several different states and remained outside the rally to "protect free speech" and everyone at the rally.

The same group was in Charlottesville last weekend.

"We were pretty much humiliated and called every name in the book, as if we were apart of another group, which we were not," Bill Baistor from Maryland tells WSAZ. Baistor was one of the men who came to the rally in West Virginia and says he was also in Charlottesville during the chaos.

"We were pepper-sprayed. We were cussed at," he says. "When all we were doing was just protecting both groups' freedom, whether they liked what they were saying or not... Without the First Amendment, you're going to lose everything, and it starts there."

There was a skirmish after the rally ended between a group who was guarding the Stonewall Jackson statue on the other side of the capitol complex and an opposing group. Several dozen police officers moved in quickly and formed a line between the groups. The rally was not about the statue removal but came one week after calls for the statue to come down.

No arrests were made at the rally or during any of the activity that followed, according to police.

"The Black Lives Matter movement in West Virginia has been alive and well for over a year now, and you haven't heard of any incidents of us being violent," Smith says. "I'm proud of the people that I stand with."

Capitol Police, West Virginia State Police, Charleston Police, Charleston Fire, and the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center were all on hand.

"We work very well with these public safety partners, and these kinds of collaborations serve to make that relationship more successful going forward," stated Capitol Police Director Kevin Foreman.

See the rest here:
Black Lives Matter rally promotes equality, remains peaceful - WSAZ-TV