A woman is injured during a clash between protesters and counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va. 

“Sad” and “disgusting” were among the words used by local officials to describe last weekend’s white nationalist violence in Virginia.

“Hatred is hatred — it doesn’t have a color,” said Lauderdale County Sheriff Billie Sollie. “There are people in our world that thrive on disharmony. Whether the issue is important to them or not, the disharmony is.”

“No matter which side of the fence you’re on, there are going to be people on your side of the fence who are going to try to agitate people on the other side of the fence — and vice versa. Those are the ones that cause both groups on either side of the fence to lose credibility and progress.”

Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, skinheads and other white supremacists were in Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend protesting the city’s decision to remove a Confederate monument. An Ohio man is facing second-degree murder charges after allegedly driving a car into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring several others. Two Virginia state troopers also lost their lives in a helicopter crash close to the site.

Meridian Mayor Percy Bland and City Councilman Weston Lindemann released the following statement on Monday: “The City of Meridian and Meridian City Council send our thoughts and condolences to the families of the three Virginia residents who lost their lives on [Aug. 12]. We stand in solidarity with the city of Charlottesville in condemning acts of hatred and violence.”

City Councilwoman Kim Houston said a lack of spirituality is to blame.

“I think it’s a sad situation even with it being 2017 there are people who have a lot of hate in their hearts, and that’s sad,” she said. “Honestly, the spiritual side of me says people need a real relationship with Jesus Christ. And if more people practice the values that he had, a lot of this stuff we would not see.”

State Rep. Greg Snowden, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Mississippi House of Representatives, said he was “disgusted.”

“In this day and age, to think there are real-life people in American that identity with the Nazis is just crazy,” Snowden said. “There were real men in my life — my role models — that went to war to fight the Nazis… it just makes you wonder what these people are thinking. Who has been misleading these people? It’s the same sort of deal with Americans who grow up here and adopt an ISIS philosophy.”

“You have Nazis and Antifas who like these sorts of confrontations, so they can fight each other… We’ve got to find common ground…”

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said the white supremacists’ ideals have “no place in Mississippi.”

“I condemn these groups in the strongest possible terms,” the governor posted on his Facebook page. “I have been in communication with state law enforcement leadership, and they stand ready to protect our citizens from the type of cowardly terrorism we saw in Virginia. Anyone who violates the peace and dignity of our communities will be prosecuted under the full force of law.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) made this statement this morning before speaking to the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce:

“Our daughter Margaret, who lives in Jackson, attended the University of Virginia, so things that go on in Charlottesville are very personal to us,” Wicker said. “It was a tragedy, an outrage, and I condemn the white supremacists and the neo-Nazis who engaged in violence.

“I was heartened today to hear the Attorney General saying that the full force of the Justice Department is going to be placed on prosecuting these crimes. It is a tragedy, and it is hard to understand. So many lives have been totally changed, ruined, and its inexplicable.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said Sunday that the “extremist activity in Charlottesville was terrorism.”

Republican Rep. Gregg Harper of Mississippi, who attended Wicker’s speech Monday, said the violence is “absolutely unacceptable and not part of what America is about.”

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said “the loss of life and violence in Charlottesville is intolerable.”

“The beliefs of white supremacists and extremists of all ilk run counter to what our nation requires as a free and civil society,” Cochran said. “I hope the terrible events in Virginia will serve to bring Americans together to stand up to all forms of violence, hatred, and bigotry.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.