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White nationalist rally at A&M canceled, Texas lawmaker says

State Rep. Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, leads her colleagues in a moment silence Monday to remember the people who died in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday during the white supremacist rally.

A white nationalist rally planned for the Texas A&M University campus Sept. 11 has been canceled by A&M System Chancellor John Sharp out of safety concerns, a member of the state House said Monday.

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Rep. John Raney, R-College Station, said university officials cited online hate messages, including those sent by some people saying they would bring weapons to the day-long rally planned for Rudder Plaza in the heart of the College Station campus.

A&M System spokesman Laylan Copelin confirmed the cancellation.

Concern about the A&M rally spiked after protests in Charlottesville, Va., by white nationalists turned bloody. The protesters were upset about plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Counter-protesters clashed with the white nationalists, and a woman was killed and numerous others injired when a suspect with ties to neo-Nazi groups allegedly drove his car into a group of counter-protesters. Two state troopers died in the crash of a helicopter monitoring events.

Some members of the Texas Legislature from both parties had called on A&M officials to cancel the Sept. 11 event, which was organized by white nationalist Preston Wiginton and dubbed “White Lives Matter.”

Spencer appeared at A&M in December, drawing hundreds of counterprotesters and prompting A&M to host a concurrent event to celebrate diversity.