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Bad Intelligence Blamed for University Response to White Nationalist Rally

Karla Ann Cote'
/
creative commons

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A report from University of Virginia leaders says campus police responding to a torch-lit march of white nationalists on school grounds relied on incomplete intelligence and failed to enforce fire bans.

Those findings were among others laid out in a report issued Monday by a group of deans and others. The group is studying UVA's response to the white nationalist rallies that roiled Charlottesville last month.

Monday's report focuses only on the campus march the night of Aug. 11. Hundreds of white men carrying tiki torches shouted racial slurs and confronted counter-demonstrators.

The report says police weren't aware they could enforce university limits on open burns or a state law prohibiting burns with the intent to intimidate.

It also says police were overly reliant on intelligence from other agencies.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.