Boston’s Democratic mayor is warning people to “stay away” from a free speech rally set to take place on the Boston Common Saturday.
“People should not confront these rallies. So we’re urging everyone to stay away from the Common,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told reporters Friday.
Walsh said he has consulted the Southern Poverty Law Center on how to handle this weekend’s rally after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned violent last weekend. “They say that interacting with these groups just gives them a platform to spread their message of hate,” Walsh said.
The Boston Free Speech coalition obtained a permit for the rally Wednesday, which will let them start setting up at 10 a.m. on the Boston Common and hold a noon rally.
While Walsh has been clear that he does not want these demonstrations in his city, he conceded the group’s gathering is protected under the First Amendment.
“There have been questions about why we granted a permit for the rally tomorrow,” Walsh added. “The courts have made it abundantly clear. They have the right to gather, no matter how repugnant their views are. But they don’t have the right to create unsafe conditions. They have the right to free speech. In return, they have to respect our city.”
Boston Police are preparing for large-scale counter protesters and say the groups will be separated by a barricade.
“Boston and Massachusetts are the home of some of the most important moments in the fight for freedom and equality in this nation’s history,” said Gov. Charlie Baker, R-Mass. “Tomorrow is one more chapter in that honored tradition, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure tomorrow is about liberty and justice, freedom and peace, and yes the right for people to peacefully assemble.”
The Ku Klux Klan has indicated they plan to attend the rally as well.
“I know some of our members from the Springfield area are going,” Thomas Robb, national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan told the Boston Herald. “I’m assuming members in the Boston area are going.”
Walsh said he was unaware of any plans for the klan to attend the rally. “There’s been no talk of any Ku Klux Klansmen at all,” Walsh said.
Organizers with Free Speech Boston deny any association with white supremacist groups and say they condemn neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups.
