Inside a day of violence, terror in Charlottesville

(AP) — It started with threats, taunting and racial slurs, and escalated to total pandemonium — hand-to-hand combat in the streets of Charlottesville.

The throngs of Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads and various white nationalist factions came to town ostensibly to protest the taking down of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park, as President Donald Trump emphasized Tuesday.

White nationalist Richard Spencer — who popularized the term "alt-right" to describe the fringe movement mixing white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-Semitism and anti-immigration populism — told The Associated Press that the Confederate monuments are "a metaphor for something much bigger, and that is white dispossession and the de-legitimization of white people in this country and around the world."

On Saturday, State Police officers lined the edges of the one-square-block park near downtown where hundreds of nationalists gathered waiting for the event to start.

Independent militia groups backing the supremacists stood sentry in their camo gear, holding long guns and staying clear of the fray near the park.

Around 11:30 a.m., the governor declared a state of emergency, the city declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and bullhorn-wielding officers ordered the crowd to disperse.

After the shocking violence, people on both sides and some former law enforcement officials have questioned why police didn't do more.

Officials, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, have defended law enforcement's response, saying they faced a difficult situation and had to show restraint because the crowd was so highly armed.