The Lincoln Project, an anti-Donald Trump group, took credit Friday for five people appearing with tiki torches, a stunt recalling white supremacists who descended on that city amid violence in 2017, at a Charlottesville campaign stop by Virginia‘s Republican candidate for governor.

The group dressed in matching hats, khakis and white button-down shirts appeared beside the campaign bus of reported candidate Glenn Youngkin while he was inside a restaurant. The former private equity executive and political newcomer is in a close race against former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe as Tuesday’s Election Day nears.

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Photos showed the group holding large tiki torches. The incident symbolised the two-day chaos in August 2017, when white supremacists gathered in the college town for a “Unite the Right” rally ostensibly to protest the planned removal of a Confederate monument.  

The group carrying tiki torches marched across the University of Virginia campus the night before the planned event, fighting with a small number of anti-racist demonstrators. The next day, a car driven by a self-professed white supremacist rammed into a throng of nonviolent counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring scores more.

However, McAuliffe staffers promoted a reporter’s tweet about the group’s appearance, using it to attack Youngkin and suggesting that those holding the torches were his supporters.

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Youngkin staffers accused the McAuliffe campaign or Virginia Democrats of being involved, drawing disavowals.

“What happened today is disgusting and distasteful and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Those involved should immediately apologize,” McAuliffe campaign manager Chris Bolling said in a statement.

However, The Lincoln Project then intervened and said it was behind what it called a “demonstration.”

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“The Youngkin campaign is enraged by our reminder of Charlottesville for one simple reason: Glenn Youngkin wants Virginians to forget that he is Donald Trump’s candidate,” the group said of the former president, Associated Press reported.

The incident comes at a sensitive time in the city. A civil trial opened Monday that will determine whether the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who organized the 2017 demonstrations should be held accountable for the violence.

With inputs from the Associated Press