How Boston’s Massive “Free Speech” Rally Fell Apart

Boston turned up — in a big way — against white supremacy on Saturday when a so-called “alt-lite” group, theoretically separate group from the recently known “alt-right,” organised a free speech rally on Boston Common.

Just a week after neo-Nazis flooded the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, leaving three dead, Boston and its police force had feared the event would attract a newly emboldened white supremacist crowd. But the free speech rally fell apart soon after it began.

Only about 50 people showed up, VICE News estimates, and found themselves up against as many as 40,000 counter-protesters, comprised of Black Lives Matter activists, far-left anti-fascist organizers, and pissed off Bostonians, just to name a few. Meanwhile, a concurrent protest against white supremacy gathered steam on the other side of town made its way toward Boston Common.

Earlier in the week, the national director of the Ku Klux Klan said its members from Massachusetts would should up at the rally. But the event’s organizers had said they opposed white supremacy. And speakers, including prominent “proud boy” social media personalities, like Gavin McInnes and August Invictus, had also started to pull out of the event.

Even local law enforcement told VICE News that they had little sense of what to expect.

Continue reading on VICE NEWS.