Stone Mountain Park: Georgia's 'shrine' to the Confederacy shuts down ahead of an expected clash between white nationalists and antifa protesters

• Stone Mountain Park in Georgia is shutting down on Saturday in anticipation of protests, the city said Friday.
• It comes after at least one white nationalist group pledged to show up on Saturday, with one telling followers to bring Confederate and US flags, WSB-TV reported.
• An antifa group pledged to stage a counterprotest as well, Reuters reported.
• Authorities had previously denied an anti-government militia permission to stage a rally in the park, citing previous violence, Reuters reported. Neither the white nationalists and antifa protesters have permission to protest on Saturday.
• The park is home to the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a granite carving depicting three Confederate figures, and is a popular meeting place for white nationalists.

Georgia's Stone Mountain Park and its surrounding areas are closing on Saturday in anticipation of protests by white nationalists and antifa counterprotesters.

"The City of Stone Mountain is anticipating and preparing for at least two (2) opposing groups of protesters whose intentions are to demonstrate at Stone Mountain Park on Saturday, August 15, 2020," the city government said in a Friday statement.

"Stone Mountain Park has made the decision to close the Park on this day. While the city has little information what to expect during this time, out of the abundance of caution we are asking the General Public to avoid the City of Stone Mountain, specifically the downtown area, on Saturday 15th, 2020, beginning at 4:00 a.m. until 1:00 a.m. midnight."

"DO NOT confront the protesters," it added.

A separate statement from the city government on Friday said that residents and business owners "may want to consider refraining from travel and other activities within the City that may heighten the risk of engagement with the demonstrators or with any other aspect of the demonstration."

An anti-government militia named the "Three Percenters" had applied last month to hold a rally for more than 2,000 people at Stone Mountain Park "to defend and protect our history and second Amendment rights," but were denied, according to Reuters.

Park authorities said it was because a similar event in 2016 turned out to be violent, the news agency reported.

Despite the rejection, some white nationalists have vowed to stage a march anyway, and an antifa group named the "Atlanta Antifascists" said it would hold a counterprotest, Reuters reported.

One white-nationalist group named "Defending Stone Mountain" told participants to bring Confederate and US flags, WSB-TV reported.

The city says it has not given any group permission to protest on Saturday.

The park is home to the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a granite carving that depicts Confederate figures Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson mounted on horseback. It is the largest Confederate monument in the world.

For this reason, the park is a popular gathering spot for white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan, who burnt a cross at Stone Mountain on Labor Day until 1965.

Racial-justice protesters have repeatedly called for the monument to be taken down. Richard Rose, President of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called Stone Mountain: "The largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world."

During the Fourth of July holiday, dozens of mostly-Black protesters — many heavily armed — gathered in the park to demand the removal of the carving. Park authorities said they had no problem with the protest because it was peaceful.