Counterprotesters Shout Down "White Lives Matter" Rallies in Tennessee

By Daniel Politi, Slate

29 October 17

 

undreds of people came out to two white nationalist rallies held in Tennessee on Saturday, and, as has become the norm lately, the counter protesters vastly outnumbered the racists. The first rally of the day was held in Shelbyville, where some 200 white nationalists chanted in favor of deportations and closing the borders while almost double the number of people protested their presence.When someone from the National Socialist Movement took the microphone and tried to speak to the gathered demonstrators, the counter protesters managed to drown out his words by playing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Murfreesboro. @NC5 pic.twitter.com/GzfKe6Cl2u

— Matthew Torres (@NC5_MTorres) October 28, 2017

The second rally was set to be held in Murfreesboro, and the counter protesters came out in droves, as some 500 people gathered in the town of 130,000 to oppose the planned rally. In the end it seems only about 15 white nationalists showed up and their protest quickly fizzled out.

We've got our first confrontation between counter protestors and white nationalists @NC5 pic.twitter.com/8vfysJu3Za

— Chris Conte (@NC5_ChrisConte) October 28, 2017

Police managed to keep protesters and counter protesters apart and the rallies ended without incident. The only exception seems to be that one man was arrested in Shelbyville after he apparently tried to cross onto the white nationalist side of the protest.