Boston rally

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AleemMaqbool twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 18:02:47 "You look stupid" chant goes up among the thousands of anti-racism demonstrators facing the handful of "free speech" protestors in Boston reageer retweet

LIVE COVERAGE: Boston Free Speech Rally & Protests

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Officials in Boston, Massachusetts, are bracing for confrontations as rival protests converge on the city centre.

The organisers of the conservative "Free Speech Rally" said they would not offer a platform to racism or bigotry.

Hundreds of counter-protesters have surrounded a fenced-off area on Boston Common and are being held back by police.

Tensions are high after violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend turned deadly.

Police were investigating reports that some radical counter-protesters were planning to throw acid at rally supporters and even police, a law enforcement official told the Boston Globe.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool at the scene says only a handful of people have turned up for the conservative rally and are confined to the bandstand area on Boston Common.

Hundreds of anti-racism protesters are totally surrounding the bandstand but are being kept some distance away by police barriers, he adds.

Another anti-racist protest was being held about two miles away and those protesters were reported to be marching towards the common.
Speaking ahead of the competing demonstrations, the city police commissioner said he had never seen so many people "almost looking for confrontation".

"I just think the rhetoric has really brought this to a different level, and that's what we're worried about," Commissioner William Evans told a news conference on Friday.

The organisers of the "Free Speech Rally" said that "misinformation in the media" was "likening our organisation to those that ran the Charlottesville rally".

"While we maintain that every individual is entitled to their freedom of speech and defend that basic human right, we will not be offering our platform to racism or bigotry," the group wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to the event. "We denounce the politics of supremacy and violence."
The list of speakers for Saturday's free speech event has changed multiple times in previous days. At times it has included speakers who have associated with the far-right.

The so-called "Antifa" left-wing activist group has said it plans to attend as well.

"If anything gets out of hand, we will shut it down," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said on Friday morning.

A free speech rally in the city in May saw duelling protests, shouting and foul language, according to local media reports from the time.

The violence in Charlottesville began with a protest and counter-protest over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate commander General Robert E Lee.

In the aftermath, Confederate statues across America have come under renewed scrutiny.
Duke University in North Carolina removed a statue of Robert E Lee from its chapel entrance in the early hours of Saturday morning, following vandalism earlier in the week.

University President Vincent Price said the decision was made for safety reasons and "above all to express the deep and abiding values of our university."

twitter:

tylerkingkade twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 18:27:10 Pano of thousands of counter demonstrators at Boston Common @BuzzFeedNews https://t.co/zKbDLD72SB reageer retweet

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andrewkimmel_ twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 18:41:44 There are so many counter-protesters in Boston Common that we have lost all signal - hopefully these tweets are mak… https://t.co/Ovq7Oic3DR reageer retweet

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AleemMaqbool twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 19:02:02 A 'free speech' protestor wearing a Trump hat just had to be escorted through a baying crowd of counter protestors chanting "shame, shame" reageer retweet

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Tom_Winter twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 19:33:46 NBC News: Boston Police announce that the "Free Speech" rally is officially over. Just the counter protesters left. reageer retweet

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blakersdozen twitterde op zaterdag 19-08-2017 om 19:39:25 A police officer told me that right wingers were gone even before the full police force got to Boston Common reageer retweet