According to a three-paragraph decision signed by Maurice Jones, the Charlottesville city manager, officials concluded that the event would endanger public safety and that ultimately, the city did not have the proper resources to prevent a clash between opposing parties.
"The proposed demonstration or special event presents a danger to public safety and it cannot be accommodated within a reasonable allocation of city funds and/or police resources," the notice says, according to The Washington Post.
In response to the declaration, Kessler called the move "bogus" and that it "should be reversed in court."
"We're going to be suing Charlottesville for this and many other civil rights violations starting early next year," the organizer wrote in an email to the Post, later adding that "the rally is still happening."
When submitting the application in late November, Kessler stated that the 2018 event was aimed to memorialize "the sacrifices made by political dissidents" and "rally against civil rights abuses," according to The Hill.
Though the August event was marked by violence from the beginning, as white nationalists and counter-protesters clashed over the removal of Confederate statues in the US, the rally took a deadly turn when James Fields, Jr. allegedly plowed his car into a group of protesters, killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old activist, and injuring 19 others.
Two Virginia state troopers who were monitoring the event also died that day after their helicopter crashed.
