Here’s what a neo-Nazi rally looks like in 2017 America

White nationalists were met by counterprotesters in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. A car plowed into crowds, killing one person and injuring 19 others. (Video: Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post, Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

It was billed as a historically large effort to “take America back,” decades in the making. Hundreds of white nationalists, Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis gathered in Charlottesville for a rally that quickly and frequently descended into chaos.

The demonstrators carried U.S. and Confederate flags. They held tiki torches and clubs and donned impromptu battle gear — helmets, clubs, sticks and makeshift shields. At times the “Unite the Right” rally was marked by peaceful marches and chanting. But often, neo-Nazis exchanged blows with counterprotesters in clouds of tear gas and pepper spray.

By the end of the weekend, three people were dead and many others had been injured.

Read more: 

In the wake of Charlottesville protests, a Kentucky mayor wants to remove Confederate statues

Mistrial for officer who killed a black man while wearing Confederate flag shirt

‘Mind your manners,’ a white man wrote to his black neighbor. This was the response.

After a lost court battle, New Orleans protesters launch last-ditch effort to protect Confederate monuments