"Why do these cities have more moral clarity than we do when we had a Nazi rally in our town?" one resident said. He worked out with residents that each would be allowed a turn to speak during the meeting.
A city council meeting in Charlottesville, Virginia, erupted in fury on Monday night over the authorities' handling of a white nationalist rally that left a woman dead and 19 people injured.
Police said James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his auto into a group demonstrating against the "Unite the Right" rally, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.
Mayor Mike Signer said in a statement posted on Facebook that the City Council made a decision to hold an emergency closed session with the city manager on Thursday.
City officials said they had tried force the "Unite the Right" rally out of downtown Charlottesville.
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Officials are also working on new rules that would require 8% of auto sales to be electric next year and 12% by 2020. China already accounts for 40% of all electric cars sold worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency.
As the city continues to face a public outcry over what many feel was a lackluster police response to an event that carried high potential for violence and chaos, the council was planning a closed-door meeting Thursday, apparently to discuss personnel matters related to the police department led by Chief Al Thomas, who previous year became Charlottesville's first African-American police chief. They expressed frustration that city leaders had granted a permit for the rally and criticized police for allowing the two sides to clash violently before the rally even started. They used ropes and poles to cover the imposing statue of Lee on horseback as onlookers took photos and video.
The council also voted to take the procedural first steps toward removing a statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
Speakers at the council meeting said police seemed to stand by as neo-Nazi marchers and other white nationalists demonstrated.
Cantwell acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he had pepper-sprayed a counter-demonstrator but insisted he was defending himself. He said he looked forward to his day in court.
The council also made a decision to direct the city manager to take an administrative step that would make it easier to eventually remove the Jackson statue.
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