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KKK rally to save a Robert E. Lee statue ended in 22 arrests

Ku Klux Klan members attending a rally in Virginia on Saturday to save a Confederate monument found themselves vastly outnumbered by counterprotesters.

About 50 members of the Klan met at Justice Park in Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue depicting Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and were met by more than 1,000 counterprotesters.

The rally lasted less than an hour, according to reports from the scene, but tensions rose when KKK members attempted to leave the park but were blocked from entering their cars by the protesters.

The Charlottesville City Council voted to remove the statue earlier this year, in an effort “to tell the truth about race in our history and systemic racism,” according to the Guardian.

Virginia State Police attempted to keep the groups separated, but they eventually intervened. City officials said officers deployed three canisters of tear gas and arrested 22 people.