3 Dead, 20 injured after supremacist march in Virginia

Washington, Aug 13 (IANS) The white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia has left three people dead and more than 20 injured from incidents that included a car slamming into a group of people and a helicopter crash.

The person who died when a car smashed into the crowd, there were also the pilot and a passenger in a state police helicopter that crashed outside the city, Xinhua quoted Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe as saying.

About the vicious car attack, Mayor Mike Signer made the announcement on Twitter, saying he was "heartbroken that a life has been lost here. I urge all people of good will--go home."

The car ran into a group of people protesting against the white supremacist march, and the driver has been arrested, according to eye-witnesses said.

For now, the identity and motive of the driver are unknown.

Authorities at the University of Virginia Medical Center confirmed the death following the car attack as well as the 19 it injured and who are being treated there.

They also noted that another 15 people were injured in violent clashes that morning.

In a brief appearance, US President Donald Trump condemned the violence and "hate" in the city.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides," Trump said in a statement from Bedminster, New Jersey, where he is spending his summer vacation.

Trump added that "it has been going on for a long time in our country -- not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America."

The car attack occurred around 1:00 pm, soon after McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in the city for the clashes between participants in the march and those opposed to it.

The controversial "Unite the Right" march was organised to protest the removal of a statue honouring Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate Army in the 19th-century American Civil War.