This weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia, it became clear that a surging far right has created the rudiments of an organized, effective street-fighting force.

Partly this is about sheer numbers. Friday night’s “torch parade” attracted at least 400 people. On Saturday, the widely circulated estimate of 500 far-right protesters seemed radically on the low side. One group entering the park appeared to be around 250 in number and there were many smaller contingents of around 100. There appeared to be more like 1,000 behind the barricades in Emancipation Park.

Perhaps those do not sound like big numbers, but it was the product of organisation across a wide range of groups to produce a united front. It was the biggest such rally in more than a decade. And those who came were deployed in sophisticated ways.

Friday night’s torch parade began as a carefully crafted, menacing spectacle, intended to summon up memories of Nazi Germany and the Ku Klux Klan.

It was well staged, with protesters assembling in a nearby park, and taking a path across the campus. The sight of hundreds of torches, the racist chants and the uniform dress and “fashy haircuts” were intended to strike fear into observers, and they succeeded. That night, they used their numbers as propaganda – and the unsettling images of the US in 2017 went rapidly around the world.

Later, the marchers in that parade unleashed unrestrained violence on a much smaller, weaker group defending a statue of Thomas Jefferson on the grounds of the University of Virginia. This cowardly attack was also a statement of intent and a show of strength. The reaction of the people all around was understandably shock, as they realised that they were facing much more than they had bargained for.

The next day, at least at first, the far right showed a growing tactical acumen. They didn’t just show up at the permitted park. Rather, they staged their march in numbers from nearby assembly points. As Blake Montgomery put it for Buzzfeed: “Most white supremacist and Nazi groups arrived armed like a paramilitary force.”

Groups marching under the flags of a variety of neo-Confederate, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups made their way en masse through surrounding streets on their way to the park. There were unified chants and even a disconcerting mass grunting, relatively strict formations and disciplined, ordered movement.

The martial formations were matched by the militaristic appearance of these groups, and their use of weapons for street combat.

Once again, many groups adopted a uniform appearance (white polo shirts were notably popular); marchers wore helmets (including Nazi-style German helmets), body armor, and gas masks or goggles.

Many wielded clubs – axe handles, batons, and broomsticks. Many also carried shields, whether wooden ones carrying group logos or police-style riot shields. Along with mace and smoke grenades, all of these implements were later used to beat back counter-protesters.

As well as being used in violence, the weapons, along with the uniforms and the massed formations, were intended to cow their opposition. At the many other far-right events I have covered, violence has emerged from undisciplined brawling. This was more like a nascent private army.

Another, even more militaristic element of the crowd even managed to frighten police.

From the earliest part of the day, militia groups – Three Percenters and other smaller groups – were formed up on the perimeter of the park. They were dressed in full military fatigues and openly carrying automatic weapons. Their declared intention, as always, was to provide “security” for everyone there. But in the event, they just provided cover for the far right.

Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, explained on Sunday that police took a hands-off approach, and allowed the day to descend into chaotic violence, because they felt outgunned.

“You saw the militia walking down the street, you would have thought they were an army … (They) had better equipment than our state police had,” McAuliffe was quoted as saying.

So their numbers, their tactics and their effective cooperation with militia groups meant that fascists and white supremacists were able to systematically terrorize a small city for an entire weekend. That weekend culminated in a murder.

Apparently, they were also able to intimidate law enforcement into letting the rally run on for longer than it might have.

With a president so reluctant to lead condemnation, what can we expect in the months and years that follow from an emboldened far right?

Originally published by The Guardian