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 