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Competing Protest Groups Gather in Boston as Police Call for Calm

by Carolyn Presutti

   Conservative free speech advocates and left-wing counterprotesters are
   beginning to gather in the East Coast city of Boston for dueling
   rallies, and police say they will not tolerate violence from either
   side.

   Several hundred people already have showed up at the downtown park
   where the rallies are to be held. Left-wing activist groups, including
   Black Lives Matter and Antifa, planned to protest the event, which its
   organizers are calling a free speech rally.

   Celia Mendoza reports from Boston

   The rally was organized in July by a group calling itself Boston Free
   Speech, which says it is made up of a coalition of "libertarians,
   progressives, conservatives and independents."

   John Medlar, one of the group's organizers, has told multiple media
   outlets the rally will not welcome white supremacists, and he has
   denounced racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

   "We absolutely denounce the KKK, neo-Nazis, ID Evropa, Vanguard -- all
   these legit hate groups. We have nothing to do with them and we don't
   want them here," Medlar told NBC Boston.

   On its Facebook page, the free speech coalition said those in its group
   are "dedicated to peaceful rallies and are in no way affiliated with
   the Charlottesville rally" last weekend.

   Despite the group's rejection of white supremacists, ANSWER Coalition
   Boston, a local chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, has
   announced plans to hold a counterdemonstration, which it has dubbed
   "Fight Supremacy," to oppose the free speech rally.

   The Fight Supremacy rally isn't solely geared toward disrupting the
   free speech rally, though. Its organizers posted a laundry list of
   issues they hope to tackle, including income inequality,
   "anti-immigration initiatives," and racist police officers, among other
   things.

   "The individuals and institutions most effective in harming black and
   brown people do not carry torches or wear white hoods. Instead, they
   aggressively patrol our neighborhoods, enforce laws unequally,
   systematically impose poverty, and suppress the voices and needs of
   oppressed communities," the group said.
   Permit for rally

   The free speech rally was granted a permit from the city of Boston to
   hold its rally in a downtown park from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, with a
   maximum of 100 people.
   The Black Lives Matter protesters have not acquired the permit
   necessary to hold a rally, although its organizers say they expect
   thousands of people to attend.
   "It went from a few hundred to well over 1,000, to now roughly 3,000
   pretty quickly. There are about 10,000 interested in our event,
   according to Facebook," organizer Nino Brown told NBC News.
   Brown noted that the left-wing group Antifa is expected to make an
   appearance at the rally Saturday, and he welcomed their support.
   "Though we don't agree with Antifa's tactics and strategy and
   adventurism, we respect their willingness to put their bodies on the
   line to fight fascists," he said.
   In a post on its Facebook page, the Boston Antifa group wrote, "Guess
   what, Boston? You'll be seeing us all over town for a while" and
   promised to "give right-wing terrorism no platform."
   Boston officials say they are prepared to handle the dueling rallies
   Saturday, and have a plan in place to avoid the violence seen last
   weekend in Charlottesville, which left one woman dead after a white
   nationalist protester allegedly drove his car into a group of
   counter-protesters.
   Police presence
   Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said more than 500 police officers will be on
   hand to keep the peace and certain items will be banned from the
   protest site. "No weapons, no backpacks, no sticks,'' Walsh said. "We
   are going to have a zero-tolerance policy. If anyone gets out of
   control -- at all -- it will be shut down."

   Boston Police Commissioner Billy Evan said officers would be "working
   with the crowd real closely," and that the city has been coordinating
   with organizers of the free speech rally in advance to ensure there is
   no violence.
   "I hope anyone who protests and is marching is doing it for the right
   reason," Evans said. "Unfortunately, I think there's going to be a few
   troublemakers here."

   He also criticized the media response to the planned event because "the
   frenzy over the last six days" has portrayed the rally "like a
   showdown."
   The free speech group held a similar rally in May in Boston that went
   largely unnoticed. A few hundred people attended the rally and it
   attracted a small crowd of protesters.
   VOA's Celia Mendoza contributed to this report.