Many news outlets (here the Huffington Post) have reported on the deliberate killing and wounding of anti-hate protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, on Saturday 12 August 2017 when a car plowed into a group of anti-racist demonstrators. The woman killed was a 32-year-old paralegal Heather Heyer. Heather Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told HuffPost that her daughter attended Saturday’s rally because she “was about bringing an end to injustice…..I don’t want her death to be a focus for more hatred, I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion.” Heyer was a graduate of Willam Monroe High School in Stanardsville, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” read Heyer’s last public post on Facebook.
20-year-old James Fields Jr. was arrested over the incident and charged with murder. Fields was one of thousands of members of the so-called “alt right” who were in Charlottesville attending Saturday’s “Unite The Right” march. The rally became violent after the white supremacists were confronted by anti-fascist groups.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
December 31, 2017 at 23:02
[…] Heather Heyer, who was killed in August in Charlottesville while protesting against a white supremacist rally [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/08/14/human-rights-defender-heather-heyer-murdered-in-protest… […]
February 7, 2018 at 14:53
[…] Background: The Suffragette Spirit Map of Britain is a part of Amnesty’s global BRAVE campaign to champion and protect human rights defenders around the world. Every day, ordinary people from all walks of life – from students to farmers, office workers to street sellers – are doing extraordinary things to protect our human rights. But human rights and the people who defend them are coming under increasing attack – the scale and level of which is now at an alarming rate. In 2016, 281 human rights defenders were killed – and last year is set to be the deadliest year yet. Since the UN Declaration of Human Rights Defenders in 1998, at least 3,500 activists have been killed – an average of 180 deaths a year – and the annual death toll shows no sign of diminishing. There were a number of high profile deaths of women human rights defenders last year including Heather Heyer, who was killed in August in Charlottesville while protesting against a white supremacist rally. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/08/14/human-rights-defender-heather-heyer-murdered-in-protest…]. […]