Thousands take to streets in Boston protest against hate speech

[rooster59]

Thousands take to streets in Boston protest against hate speech

By Scott Malone and Nate Raymond

 

A large crowd of people march towards the Boston Commons to protest the Boston Free Speech Rally in Boston, MA, U.S., August 19, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Thousands of people in Boston protested a "Free Speech" rally featuring right-wing speakers on Saturday, with hundreds of police mobilized to prevent a recurrence of violence that left a woman dead at a Virginia white-supremacist protest last week.

 

In historic Boston Common park alone, hundreds of protesters who believe the event could become a platform for racist propaganda dwarfed the few dozen rally participants.

 

The number of protesters was poised to swell exponentially as a march with thousands more people bore down on the park.

 

Some 500 police officers placed barricades to prevent vehicles from entering the park, the nation's oldest. To keep the two groups separate, they also built a cordon around the site of the rally.

 

Last weekend's clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one woman was killed in a car rampage after bloody street battles, ratcheted up racial tensions already inflamed by white supremacist groups marching more openly in rallies across the United States.

 

White nationalists had converged in the Southern university city to defend a statue of Robert E. Lee, who led the pro-slavery Confederacy's army during the Civil War, which ended in 1865.

 

A growing number of U.S. political leaders have called for the removal of statues honoring the Confederacy, with civil rights activists charging that they promote racism. Advocates of the statues contend they are a reminder of their heritage.

 

Duke University removed a statue of Lee from the entrance of a chapel on its Durham, North Carolina campus, officials said on Saturday.

 

Organizers of Saturday's rally in Boston have denounced the white supremacist message and violence of Charlottesville and said their event would be peaceful.

 

"The point of this is to have political speech from across the spectrum, conservative, libertarian, centrist," said Chris Hood, an 18-year-old Boston resident who stood among a crowd of a few dozen people who planned to join the Free Speech rally. "This is not about Nazis. If there were Nazis here, I'd be protesting against them."

 

Last weekend's violence sparked the biggest domestic crisis yet for U.S. President Donald Trump, who provoked ire across the political spectrum for not immediately condemning white nationalists and for praising "very fine people" on both sides of the fight.

 

Two male rally participants wearing Trump's red "Make America Great Again" campaign hats attempted to enter the protest pen that police had set up to keep the two sides separated. They were swarmed by black-clad protesters, some with their faces covered, as the crowd screamed "go home" and "no hate" at them.

 

Beyond the Boston rally and march, protests are also expected on Saturday in Texas, with the Houston chapter of Black Lives Matter holding a rally to remove a "Spirit of the Confederacy" monument from a park and civil rights activists in Dallas planning a rally against white supremacy.

 

Boston authorities had roadblocks in place to avert car attacks like the deadly one carried out in Charlottesville by a man said to have neo-Nazi sympathies against counter-protesters and a similar spate of attacks by Islamist extremists in Europe, most recently Barcelona.

 

PROTESTERS REJECT PLEA

 

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh had asked protesters to avoid Boston Common, saying their presence would draw more attention to the far-right activists.

He joined the crowd of thousands assembling in Boston's historically black Roxbury neighborhood early on Saturday.

 

"These signs and the message so far this morning is all about love and peace," Walsh told reporters. "That's a good message."

 

Monica Cannon, an organizer of the "Fight White Supremacy" march, said it was a necessary move.

 

"Ignoring a problem has never solved it," Cannon said in a phone interview. "We cannot continue to ignore racism."

 

The Free Speech rally's scheduled speakers include Kyle Chapman, a California activist who was arrested at a Berkeley rally earlier this year that turned violent, and Joe Biggs, formerly of the right-wing conspiracy site Infowars.

 

Antonio Vargas, a 20-year-old student at Gordon College, joined the protest march.

 

"I believe in equality," Vargas said. "I believe race shouldn't define the pattern of your life or the result of your life.

 

"There also is a time to stand up and not be silent."

 

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-20

 

[FreddieRoyle]

 Rather a misleading headline. There were 2 camps, the pro free speech side, and the anti free speech side. Nobody was protesting for hate speech as per the title. I have noticed a decidedly OTT liberal bias from Reuters recently which only serves to further polarize and divide.

[sirineou]

You are only for  free speech if you allow that which you disagree with.

No ifs or buts about it.

[mogandave]

 Rather a misleading headline. There were 2 camps, the pro free speech side, and the anti free speech side. Nobody was protesting for hate speech as per the title. I have noticed a decidedly OTT liberal bias from Reuters recently which only serves to further polarize and divide.

 

Yes, but speech that comes from the right is by definition, Hate Speech.

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

Yes, but ant speech that comes from the right is by definition, Hate Speech.

 

that was a "but" and also an "if" at the same time. That would be conditional free speech. 

 

[simple1]

19 minutes ago, sirineou said:

You are only for  free speech if you allow that which you disagree with.

No ifs or buts about it.

IMO not if 'free speech' is promoting lawless action e.g. anti-Semitism / discrimination

Edited August 20, 2017 by simple1

[mogandave]

IMO not if 'free speech' is promoting lawless action e.g. anti-Semitism / discrimination

Exactly

[lovelomsak]

The more resistance I see against right free speech the more i feel . The left is afraid to let people hear real free speech with no racist overtones. so the left says all right wing speech is racist. What a load of crap. The left are like Prayut. Keep the oppenets silent they might make sense.and be understood.

[metisdead]

Some nonsense posts have been removed. 

[Chou Anou]

1 hour ago, FreddieRoyle said:

 Rather a misleading headline. There were 2 camps, the pro free speech side, and the anti free speech side. Nobody was protesting for hate speech as per the title. I have noticed a decidedly OTT liberal bias from Reuters recently which only serves to further polarize and divide.

 

[bert bloggs]

Boston obviously does not have the problems we have with unfetered immegration and no go areas we have in Europe and the UK

[Rancid]

The media still driving their divide and conquer paradigm, the minority group of protestors were protesting for Free Speech, which progressives always label "hate" speech. Seems that part of the Constitution will also soon be out the window. Free speech means also having to listen to idiots, repressing them is fascism, the very thing the fascist progressives claim to hate.

 

The Nazis hated communists, not because they were totalitarian, but because they were a competing flavour of totalitarianism. No one else sees any correlation I suppose...

[attrayant]

8 minutes ago, Rancid said:

The media still driving their divide and conquer paradigm, the minority group of protestors were protesting for Free Speech...

 

How do you protest for something you already have?  Freedom of speech is the default position in the USA.  But that comes with an understanding that the First Amendment doesn't shield you from the consequences of what you say, or from criticism.  If you get shouted down, banned from Twitter or have your show cancelled because of what you've said, your free speech rights have not been violated nor have you been "oppressed".  It just means that the people listening to you think you're an asshοle and they're showing you the door.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Rancid said:

...which progressives always label "hate" speech. Seems that part of the Constitution will also soon be out the window. Free speech means also having to listen to idiots, repressing them is fascism, the very thing the fascist progressives claim to hate.

 

Oh, I see.  If the White Nationalists exercise their rights, that's called free speech.  But if opposition protesters return the favor, that's called oppression?

[mtls2005]

Seems like it was peaceful, a baker's dozen "free speech" enthusiasts organized a "rally"; 40,000 people also chose to assemble to show how they feel. What's wrong with this picture?

 

 

 

 

Gavin McInnes dropped out.

[mogandave]

As the US progresses from a greed-driven capitalist society to a more socialist state, dissenting views will and should be shut down.


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[connda]

3 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

 Rather a misleading headline. There were 2 camps, the pro free speech side, and the anti free speech side. Nobody was protesting for hate speech as per the title. I have noticed a decidedly OTT liberal bias from Reuters recently which only serves to further polarize and divide.

No doubt the anti-free speech side will be screaming hate-filled epitates at the pro-free speech side.  Possibly along with pepper spray, mace, bicycle locks and rocks.  

Yep.  Orwell was smack on the mark with the double-speak prediction.  

[FreddieRoyle]

3 minutes ago, connda said:

No doubt the anti-free speech side will be screaming hate-filled epitates at the pro-free speech side.  Possibly along with pepper spray, mace, bicycle locks and rocks.  

Yep.  Orwell was smack on the mark with the double-speak prediction.  

and throwing bottles of urine at the police, which doesn't sound very tolerant or peaceful to me?

 

 

[attrayant]

47 minutes ago, FreddieRoyle said:

and throwing bottles of urine at the police, which doesn't sound very tolerant or peaceful to me?

Yes, it looks like some Nazis mingled into the protest crowd in an attempt to start something:
 

Quote

Twenty-seven people were arrested, according to Boston police, including one man with a gun, who police said was on the conservative side. A witness said the man had had a concealed weapon and had been wearing a Trump hat.

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

What's wrong with this picture?

Nothing.

Both sides exercise their freedom of assembly within the terms of their permits.

 

 

[Srikcir]

The Divider-in-Chief Trump's viewpoint of the 40,000 anti-protesters, "looks like many anti-police agitators."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-calls-boston-protesters-anti-police-agitators-praises-law-enforcement/

Trump dishonors the 44 US presidents proceeding him  and the nation's non-white minorities. He continues to side with the alt. right bigotry.

 

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, connda said:

No doubt the anti-free speech side will be screaming hate-filled epitates at the pro-free speech side.  Possibly along with pepper spray, mace, bicycle locks and rocks.  

Yep.  Orwell was smack on the mark with the double-speak prediction.  

You do enjoy your fantasies. Reality, not so much.

[sirineou]

17 hours ago, simple1 said:

IMO not if 'free speech' is promoting lawless action e.g. anti-Semitism / discrimination

Dont confuse free speech and illegal l speech.  Speech that promotes  illegal activity is against the law and is dealt with  by the appropriate authorities.

Hate speech that stays with in the legal limits is undesirable  to say the least. but not illegal.  If we start restricting "undesirable speech" then all free speech is in danger, because depending on ones perspective any speech can be undesirable.

 

[stevenl]

18 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Dont confuse free speech and illegal l speech.

Speech that promotes  illegal activity is against the law and is dealt with  by the appropriate authorities.

Hate speech that stays with in the legal limits is undesirable  to say the least. but not illegal.

If we start restricting "undesirable speech" then all free speech is in danger, because depending on ones perspective any speech can be undesirable.

 

So following your reasoning European countries don't have free speech.

[sirineou]

1 minute ago, stevenl said:

So following your reasoning European countries don't have free speech.

Yes

They have restricted speech

Edited August 20, 2017 by sirineou

[stevenl]

10 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

 Rather a misleading headline. There were 2 camps, the pro free speech side, and the anti free speech side. Nobody was protesting for hate speech as per the title. I have noticed a decidedly OTT liberal bias from Reuters recently which only serves to further polarize and divide.

It says 'against' in the headline, not 'for'. And yes, there were many protesters against hate speech.

 

You noticing a liberal bias from Reuters lately says more about you than about Reuters.

[Jingthing]

Free speech. Schmee speech. It was another white supremacist / Nazi / kkk /alt right basket of racist scum.

[sirineou]

7 hours ago, stevenl said:

So following your reasoning European countries don't have free speech.

In certain European countries specifically targeted speech has being rendered illegal   with in the legal framework of such country,  Thus such speech can be dealt with , by the legal system.  In the US there are certain types of speech that are illegal. One, cant falsely yell fire in a crowded movie theater, for obvious reasons.,  then such behaviour can  dealt by the legal system.

These types of restricted speech have passed constitutional scrutiny, Anything else is infringing on peoples constitutional rights and is it's self illegal.

[sirineou]

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Free speech. Schmee speech. It was another white supremacist / Nazi / kkk /alt right basket of racist scum.

Who can argue with such fine legal argument.

[tartempion]

White nationalist and Black nationalist both sound racist to me, so does White supremacists.


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[simple1]

56 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Dont confuse free speech and illegal l speech.

Speech that promotes  illegal activity is against the law and is dealt with  by the appropriate authorities.

Hate speech that stays with in the legal limits is undesirable  to say the least. but not illegal.

If we start restricting "undesirable speech" then all free speech is in danger, because depending on ones perspective any speech can be undesirable.

 

Freedom to express hate speech is a topic that is constantly pushed by the extremists in society. Hate speech creates violence. Looks to me some sectors of society have already compromised with evil by not updating laws to reflect the reality of conflict in society today - comment not aimed at you.