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As snow falls, new Confederate group rallies again on Monument Avenue

Posted at 11:02 PM, Dec 09, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-09 23:16:05-05

RICHMOND, Va. — The CSA II: The New Confederate States of America group returned to Monument Avenue as snow fell in Richmond Saturday morning.

Much like the group’s Sept. 16 rally, the stated purpose of Saturday’s event was to voice their support to protect Confederate monuments in former capital of the Confederacy.

But unlike the September rally, Monument Avenue remained open when the group arrived just after 10 a.m.

Tara Brandau, who helped organize both rallies, carried a flag depicting President Donald Trump atop a military tank.

Counter protesters, who once again outnumbered the group, chanted as one demonstrator from Pennsylvania ripped up a Confederate flag in protest of the statues.

The City of Richmond spent more than $570,000 on supplies, police equipment, and safety personnel during the September rally.

It appeared less than 10 members of CSA II participated in the September rally.

A much larger group of counter protestors marched on Monument Avenue in an attempt to drown out the pro-Confederate voices.

No one was injured during the September event, which took place about one month after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.

“We ask anyone who comes to Monument Avenue to be cooperative and non-confrontational,” Lepley said. “They should stay out of the roadway, remain on the sidewalks and cross in the crosswalks. There will be zero tolerance for misbehavior.”

The City of Richmond is in the midst of discussing what to do with the city’s Confederate monuments.

Monuments honoring Confederate figures Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, and Matthew Fontaine Maury dot Richmond’s most famous street. In 1996, a monument to tennis great and humanitarian Arthur Ashe was added to Monument Avenue.