Four arrested at Nashville protest responding to violence in Charlottesville

Four people were arrested Saturday night during a Nashville protest organized in response to violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va., following a white nationalist rally, leaving three dead.

Justin Jones, a Nashville activist and one of the four people arrested, said the protest sprang out of a "solidarity vigil" for victims of the violence in Virginia. Jones, who described the demonstration as "peaceful," said protesters were motivated by ties between the racism on vivid display in Virginia and problems that occur "every day, systemically" in Nashville, including low wages and limited access to health care.

The group marched from Bicentennial Mall to First Tennessee Park, where a Nashville Sounds Game was underway.

Video footage from the protest shows a group of people marching with signs decrying racism and chanting "Black lives matter" on the fringes of First Tennessee Park.

Jones, 21, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct — police said he jumped in front of a moving patrol car, tried to take something from another person who was under arrest and "refused officer's orders to step back."

Three other protesters also were arrested and charged with minor offenses.

Iris Nevers, 19, was charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing, resisting arrest and drug possession. Police said she climbed a fence on the edge of the park and sat in the way when people were trying to leave.

Kelsey Lemmer, 25, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Police said she tried to block officers who were arresting another protester. 

Evan Bunch, 30, was charged with disorderly conduct.

In an interview Sunday morning after he was released from jail, Jones said he was inspired by the Nashville demonstration because many of the protesters criticizing racism and white supremacy were white.

"To me that was powerful to see people that were white standing up and saying, 'We're not going to be complicit,'" Jones said. "We need more of our white brothers and sisters standing up and speaking out."

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Jones said activists would continue protesting in Nashville. He said he would participate in efforts calling for the removal of the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan, in the Tennessee Capitol.

"We have to call it out in our own community and that's how we can show solidarity with Charlottesville," Jones said.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam supported a recent, unsuccessful push to remove the bust.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.