UPDATE (3:53 p.m. on Monday, April 29): Charleston Police Chief Scott Dempsey says the white nationalist group marching in downtown Charleston did not need a permit to walk through the city on the sidewalks.

Chief Dempsey says once they got onto the road, they were asked to move back to the sidewalk; he says they complied.

At the West Virginia State Capitol, the Capitol Police would issue any permit, Chief Dempsey says.

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — The West Virginia Democratic Party called the group that organized a white nationalist march in downtown Charleston “modern day Nazis.”

The group carried flags associated with Patriot Front, which is classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The West Virginia Democratic Party said the group describes themselves as “American fascists” and “openly anti-semitic.”

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The march happened at the same time as the YWCA’s Race to End Racism. West Virginia Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said, “The contrast between the two events in Charleston on Saturday could not have been greater.”

Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin spoke out about the march on social media, saying, “We cannot let voices that want to spread hate be louder than the voices of those of us who want to celebrate our community.”

“Governor Justice should show the nation where West Virginia stands. I would be proud to join with my Republican counterparts, Chairman Matt Herridge and Co-Chair Kris Raynes, in unity with other Republican and Democratic office-holders and candidates in firmly, and unequivocally condemning the actions of Patriot Front and all they stand for,” Pushkin said in a press release.

West Virginia GOP Chairman Matt Herridge said in a statement, “Groups that promote hate and bigotry are disgusting and un-American. I am unfamiliar with the group witnessed in Charleston last week but condemn their divisive actions. Just as with the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric we’re seeing across the country, any attempts to divide and discriminate have no place here. It is my hope and belief that these individuals were not West Virginians and that their message is outright rejected by our citizens.”

We have reached out to Gov. Jim Justice’s office for comment.

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