A care worker who fought off white supremacist attackers in Charlottesville with an improvised flame thrower said he had set out for a peaceful protest against “Nazis who took over my town”.
Corey Long had joined the hundreds of demonstrators in the Virginia city who turned out to heckle at radicals including Ku Klux Klan members who were marching in an ultra right-wing rally.
But the 23-year-old said the scene quickly turned violent when one of the thousands of extremists who had taken to the streets fired a gun next to his feet - while police nearby failed to react.
Another extremist later lunged at Mr Long with a confederate flag and he fought back with a spray can he said he found on the ground, putting a lighter to the nozzle and turning it into a weapon.
The image of the counter-protester firing flames at the radical marchers went viral and is said to capture the horror of the protests that sparked clashes and left one woman dead.
Mr Long said: “I went out to voice my opinion. To have my freedom of speech. Just like the racist Nazis who took over my town.
“At first it was peaceful protest. Until someone pointed a gun at my head. Then the same person pointed it at my foot and shot the ground.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/charlottesville-man-pictured-using-homemade-130131619.html
