Twitter coalition works to identify Unite the Right attendees
After violence erupted at a rally protesting the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend, a large coalition of Twitter users is working to publicly identify those who were photographed demonstrating.
Nearly 310,000 people strong, the movement is centered around the anonymous Twitter account @YesYoureRacist, which has been posting images of demonstrators from Friday night's torchlight march on the rotunda and Saturday morning's rally and encouraging users to identify those pictured.
The account claims to have gotten one of the demonstrators fired from his job at a California restaurant, posting a statement seemingly from the restaurant confirming the demonstrator's termination.
PHOTOS: Violent clash in Virginia as counter protesters face off with white nationalists
Peter Cvjetanovic, another one of the demonstrators identified through the crowdsourced campaign, confirmed to a local television station that he was in a photo posted to the account, but defended his views and said he did not expect the photograph he was in to be circulated so heavily on the internet.
"I understand the photo has a very negative connotation. But I hope that the people sharing the photo are willing to listen that I'm not the angry racist they see in that photo," Cvjetanovic told KTVN-TV.
While some have called foul on the movement's goals -- decrying it as public shaming -- those involved have noted that the demonstrators attended a rally on public property that was heavily covered by the news media, and some of them have even given interviews to news outlets.
RELATED: A timeline of the deadly weekend in Charlottesville
