Governor lifts Alachua County State of Emergency
A supporter of white nationalist Richard Spencer stands amid of crowd of protesters after Spencer spoke at University of Florida in October.

University White Nationalist

With white nationalist “identitarian” Richard Spencer and his adherents now safely out of Alachua County. Gov. Rick Scott lifted a state of emergency Friday.

Scott thanked law enforcement, which included state and local reinforcements from nearby counties, saying he was “grateful that their unified efforts, in coordination with leadership at the University of Florida, kept all involved in yesterday’s rallies safe.”

“Florida is a state that respects the First Amendment,” Scott said, “but we do not tolerate violence of any kind.”

Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell asserted that a “successful, coordinated response from public safety to this event was vastly due to the unprecedented capacity to mobilize well-trained, well-equipped, agile personnel, and the immense preparation and lessons learned from similar incidents in the nation.”

Indeed, though the feared Charlottesville-style violence did not manifest on the U.F. campus, there was a shot fired by a trio of male white supremacists at a group of people off campus.

Time reports that after the Spencer speech at UF Thursday afternoon, those white supremacists taunted a group of people at a bus stop, yelling “Heil Hitler” and the like. This led to an escalated confrontation, followed by a gun shot from one of the racialists.

All three men are in custody, having been arrested by an off-duty Alachua Sheriff’s officer just hours later.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, William March, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704