The Richmond Times-Dispatch talks about the cost of the counter-protests in Richmond when a handful of supporters of the Lee Monument clashed with a few thousand protesters — and the handful of Antifa and black bloc activists who trucked down for a Charlottesville-style clash that never materialized:
No injuries were reported during the event in Richmond, which was sparsely attended by the out-of-state pro-Confederate group and vastly outnumbered by hundreds of counterprotesters. Seven people were arrested — four for wearing masks, two on weapons charges and one on a charge of disorderly conduct.
Like Richmond’s total, Charlottesville’s tally does not account for the costs to other agencies that responded. Approximately 600 Virginia State Police personnel helped supplement the much smaller Charlottesville police force, which had 127 sworn positions. A much smaller state police response was requested in Richmond, where the police force’s authorized strength is 750.
The aftermath of the events in Charlottesville loomed over Richmond.
“The mayor promised to keep our city safe,” said Jim Nolan, spokesman for Mayor Levar Stoney. “In the wake of the tragedy that unfolded in Charlottesville, the city took the necessary steps to ensure the safety of our citizens and their property on Sept. 16. We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best and didn’t take any chances.”
One really does have to praise Mayor Levar Stoney and Richmond Police for their exemplary handling of the protest and the counter-protest — including the enforcement of the law against wearing masks (imposed as an anti-Klan measure in the 1950s but finding new value in today’s “direct action” marketplace).
…but as the assignment of blame becomes the game-of-the-day, the protest itself consisted of a handful of individuals — people who could have shown up, waved a flag, and gone entirely unnoticed by the world.
Yet it was the counter-protest that created the logistics stir, all in the wake of Charlottesville — yes. But the overreaction to the reaction became a half-million dollar event.
What could Richmond schools have done with $570,000?
What’s more — and this is something to seriously consider — but in a world of limited resources and in a universe where agitators and direct action groups know and understand the cost of separating themselves from Antifa.
That cost is a means of measuring impact, folks. The Alt-Right that is plaguing Charlottesville notices this and is watching; other groups on the left notice and mark down the results as well.
Sometimes it is all well and good to march in the streets. Yet when that becomes the object of the opposition, it is perhaps worth pausing and asking whether or not getting our feelings out was worth $570,000.