Far-right leaders nixing Hub plans amid backlash
Two leading far-right activists yesterday canceled their plans to attend Saturday’s Boston Free Speech Rally, as Boston’s mayor vowed to do “every single thing in our power” to prevent the event and police girded for potential clashes between participants and massive crowds of counter-protesters if it is held.
“We’re not going to tolerate anybody getting hurt, any acts of violence — if we see that start to happen the rally is going to end real quick,” said Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans at a press conference at City Hall yesterday.
After violence at a white nationalism rally in Charlottesville, Va., left a woman dead Saturday in what officials have called a terrorist act, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh moved to block Boston’s event, which was slated to include some of the speakers from Charlottesville.
“Boston does not welcome you here, Boston does not want you here, Boston rejects your message,” Walsh said.
“There is no place here for that type of hatred,” Gov. Charlie Baker said after meeting with Walsh, public safety officials, state lawmakers, clergy members and others in City Hall to discuss logistics and safety concerns for the rally.
Police will keep rally participants and protesters separate with barriers and bike patrol officers, with busloads of additional local and state police ready for action, Evans said.
“I know there’s going to be violence,” Gavin McInnes, the founder of the far-right Proud Boys, told the Herald yesterday, explaining why he is canceling his plans to attend Boston’s rally. “The actual situation is going to be very bad for everyone involved. It will look like we’re defending the alt-right when we should be separating from the altright.”
Headliner Cassandra Fairbanks also dropped out yesterday, tweeting “I’m not going to speak at the Boston free speech rally. The threats keep escalating and people are unhinged.”
No complete permit application has been filed by Boston Free Speech, which is promoting the event on its Facebook page.
John Medlar, a rally organizer, said none of the Charlottesville organizers were involved in the rally and no speakers from that event are currently scheduled to appear.
While many participants in the Charlottesville rally brought firearms, Medlar said organizers were telling Boston attendees to bring protective gear.
“We’ve been advising people not to bring offensive weapons like firearms, knives, heavy objects, and have been instructing them to bring items like helmets or heavy goggles or sports pads, to have them handy in case they get attacked,” Medlar said.
A coalition of Boston-area community groups — including Violence In Boston, the Black Lives Matter Network, Black Lives Matter Cambridge and Black Lives Matter Boston — is planning a counter-march Saturday to “send a message to white supremacists that their hateful rhetoric, physical violence and fear mongering will not go uncontested.”