US Vice-President Mike Pence on Sunday (Aug 13) condemned far-right groups that staged a rally in Virginia that descended into deadly violence, saying there is "no tolerance for hate and violence." 


"We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo Nazis or the KKK," Pence said in response to a question at a news conference in Cartagena, Colombia, where he was on the first leg of a Latin American tour. 


"These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms." 


Pence's comments were in contrast to those of President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the violence Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which he failed to explicitly condemn white supremacists. 


A woman died and 19 people were injured in Charlottesville when a car plowed into a crowd of people after a rally by Ku Klux Klan members and other white nationalists turned violent. Two state police officers died in a helicopter crash near the area. 


Trump has come under mounting fire, even from members of his own party, for blaming the violence on hatred and bigotry "on many sides," and not explicitly condemning the white extremist groups at the rally. 



The president has long had a following among white supremacist groups attracted to his nationalist rhetoric on immigration and other hot-button issues

Source: NNA