Saskatoon vigil remembers Charlottesville victims

A vigil was held Monday in Saskatoon for those killed and injured following a weekend of violence in the city of Charlottesville, Va.

The small city was the scene of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi demonstration against the removal of a statue of Confederate Civil War general Robert E. Lee.

The weekend saw clashes between the demonstrators and counter-protesters, culminating in the death of a 32-year-old woman after a car plowed into a crowd.

James Alex Fields, Jr., widely reported to have been among the white nationalist demonstrators throughout the weekend, is charged with second-degree murder.

About 100 people gathered Monday evening outside Saskatoon City Hall for a candlelight vigil.

Cleo Nugyen helped organize the event.

She said she was motivated by personal connections to the weekend’s events.

“It was a sense of helplessness and worry, because I have friends who are down in Virginia.”

Nugyen said she found it difficult to watch as images from Charlottesville began circulating on social media Saturday.

“It’s hard to believe that in this day and age we have to say: ‘hey, there was a violent rally where Nazis were gathering in a public space threatening the existence of other people,” she said.

-with files from JT Marshall