Thousands expected at Boston 'free speech' demonstration and counterprotests

One week after violent protests rattled Charlottesville, Virginia, officials in Boston are bracing the city for planned demonstrations taking place Saturday that include a "free speech" rally on Boston Common.

Thousands of demonstrators are expected to attend the rally and counterprotests, ABC Boston affiliate WCVB reports, adding that a small number of KKK members are expected to attend.

The rally is set to begin at noon on Saturday.

Organizers for counter-protests are calling their demonstration a "racial justice for solidarity march," WCVB reports.



City officials will deploy about 500 police officers to prevent similar violence to what took place in Charlottesville on Aug. 13 in response to the "Unite the Right" rally protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a municipal park.
"We're going to respect their right to free speech,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Friday, but "they don't have the right to create unsafe conditions."

Scheduled to speak at the rally, which was organized by the Boston Free Speech Coalition, are Kyle Chapman, who caused controversy online after photos emerged of him hitting anti-Trump protesters, Joe Biggs, who previously worked at the website InfoWars, run by conservative radio host Alex Jones, Republican congressional candidate Shiva Ayyadurai and Libertarian congressional candidate Samson Racioppi.

John Medlar, who said he is an organizer for Boston Free Speech, said the group has no affiliation with the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Boston.com reported.

"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. We denounce the politics of supremacy and violence," the group wrote its Facebook page.



The group is largely made up of students in their mid-teens to mid-20s, Medlar told Boston.com.

Boston Police Commissioner Billy Evans said Friday that while he believes "a few troublemakers" will attend the rally, police will be "working the crowd real closely."

Anything that can be used as a weapon, including backpacks and sticks, have been banned from the rally, WCVB reported. Demonstrators should even avoid using sticks to hold up their posters, Evans said.

The permit for the event allows the rally to take place between noon and 2 p.m., according to the Boston Globe.