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US Democratic Attorneys General issue statement denouncing white supremacist

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-08-18 09:09

US Democratic Attorneys General issue statement denouncing white supremacist

A woman attends a candlelight vigil for Heather Heyer following last Saturday's protest organized by white nationalists that turned deadly at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, US on August 16, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

LOS ANGELES - 21 Democratic Attorneys General issued joint statement Thursday denouncing white supremacist, according to a press release of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office.

The statement, which emphasized as a response to Trump's earlier this week to the violence event occurred in Charlottesville of Virginia, also urged all elected leaders, including the US President Donald Trump, to take the same attitude to white supremacy and racism.

"We commend the Republican Attorneys General Association for issuing a statement and appreciate our shared commitment to confront hate and strengthen our states and our country." the statement said.

"We must not lose sight of those betrayed by the silence of too many of our nation's leaders. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims of violence and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Virginia as we hold steadfast to our commitment to confront hate, racism, and violence." it wrote.

On Aug 12, thousands of white nationalists, neo-Confederates and right-wing protesters, clashed with groups that oppose them, during demonstrations in Charlottesville, a historic college town in Virginia. After hours of brawls, a sports car ploughed into a group of counter-white supremacist protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring 19 others.

Trump kept correcting his vague response to the incident.

He issued an initial statement blaming "many sides" for the Charlottesville violence, then had to condemn white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan Monday, however one day late he said the alt-left groups were also "charging at the alt-right with clubs."

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, the new chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, released a statement Wednesday saying the group's values are "entirely at odds with the views of the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who spewed their hatred in Charlottesville this past weekend."