PEACE PREVAILS IN HUB AS RALLY PLAYS OUT
A tidal wave of 40,000 peaceful counterprotesters drowned out a so-called “Free Speech Rally” on Boston Common yesterday afternoon before the shouts and chants from the crowd gave way to clashes in the street when participants swarmed police officers who were transporting rallygoers away from the scene.
The highly anticipated rally, which drew just a few dozen conservative demonstrators, was scheduled to be held from noon to 2 p.m. but ended an hour early when small groups of rally participants were escorted away from the Parkman Bandstand by some of the 500 police officers who were keeping the peace.
The sparsely populated bandstand and empty no man’s land created by police to keep the two sides apart were starkly contrasted by the tens of thousands of counterprotesters who flooded into downtown Boston, many waving signs with slogans such as “Love Conquers Hate,” “Stop Embarrassing Your Friends and Family,” and “USA 1 Nazis 0,” among other more profane placards.
Although the throng of counterprotesters frequently yelled at people attempting to enter the rally area, others could be seen defending them as they made their way toward the bandstand while shouting, “No violence! No violence!”
Sarah Huber, a counterprotester from Westboro, said she wanted to “drown out” racist speech but stressed she was open to speaking with those on the other side.
“I’m all for free speech, these guys have the right to say whatever they want ... but I have the right to interrupt them, I have the right to drown them out,” Huber said, holding a drum and a sign reading “Shut Up You Nazi Scum! America Is For Everyone.”
“I brought my big drum with me because if someone gets to the point where their mind is just hitting a wall and they’re unwilling to change I’ll just drown them out, but if they’re willing to engage in conversation, absolutely (I’ll talk with them).”
Stephen McGrath, 30, of Charlestown said he stood on the side of free speech. “Americans have the right to speak their minds. I’m not saying I agree with the message. What I’m saying is this country was founded on free speech and that’s what I believe in,” McGrath said. “I’m not sitting here saying I believe in a hateful message, by all means, I’m not. I have different races in my family. I come from a family of immigrants. I’m Irish and Italian. I don’t believe in bigotry.”
Because of the distance between the two groups, no one could hear the few rally participants on the bandstand. As officers escorted them away from the Common, Libertarian congressional candidate Samson Racioppi of Salisbury acknowledged he didn’t realize “how unplanned of an event it was going to be” and said it simply “fell apart.” As the rallygoers were loaded into the back of waiting police vans, a large crowd filled Boylston Street as riot police wielding sticks cleared a path.
Despite dozens of arrests, and some clashes later in the day with protesters who were throwing bottles and rocks at police, city officials applauded both the officers who maintained order and the residents who assembled peacefully in the wake of a deadly gathering last weekend in Charlottesville, Va.
“We had 40,000 people out here, standing tall against hatred and bigotry in our city,” police Commissioner William B. Evans said. “That’s a good feeling.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh agreed, saying “you could just feel the sense of pride.”
“I want to thank all of the people who came out today, I want to thank all the people that came out to share that love, that message of love, not hate, to fight back on racism, to fight back on anti-Semitism, to fight back on the white supremacists that were coming to our city, on the Nazis that were coming to our city,” Walsh said. “I want to thank everyone that came here and expressed themselves in such a positive, great manner.”