On Monday, Texas A&M University canceled a white nationalist rally scheduled for Sept. 11, citing safety concerns.
"Texas A&M's support of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech cannot be questioned," the university said in a statement. "However, in this case circumstances and information relating to the event have changed and the risks of threat to life and safety compel us to cancel the event." The organizer of the "White Lives Matter" rally, Preston Wiginton, told The Texas Tribune he signed up to hold a rally on campus in a "free speech area," and he hadn't been told it was off. "I guess my lawyers will now be suing the state of Texas," he said.
A white nationalist rally Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended with a counter-protester being killed when she was hit by a car that drove into the crowd. State Rep. John Raney (R) announced the rally's cancelation on the floor of the Texas House, saying people on Facebook were claiming they would show up with weapons and the police "can't handle that." A spokesman for Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said his office had also been working with Texas A&M to "prevent the type of hate-filled event that we saw in Charlottesville."
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