BOSTON (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-Nazi slogans upstaged a small group in Boston that planned a “free speech rally” a week after a violent clash in Virginia left one person dead and dozens injured.
Counterprotesters marched through the city Saturday to historic Boston Common, where conservatives were to deliver speeches. The group, the Boston Free Speech Coalition, had publicly distanced itself from the neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville.
Conservative activists and supporters soon left as counterprotesters chanted slogans and waved signs that said “Make Nazis Afraid Again” and “Love your neighbor.”
Police say the rallies, the largest of about a half dozen across the U.S. Saturday, drew about 40,000 people. The event was mostly peaceful, with 33 arrests made for disorderly conduct or assaulting police officers.