NORTHAMPTON — After racist violence shook the country over the weekend, local groups are alarmed and preparing for an upcoming “free speech rally” in Boston that will feature several far-right figures.
The heightened concern over Saturday’s event comes after a violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, during which an alleged Nazi sympathizer plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring at least 19 others.
The Boston rally, organized by a group called Boston Free Speech, was billed as featuring prominent far-right figures: Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, who became known after breaking a wooden sign post over an anti-fascist activist’s head at a protest in California; Augustus Invictus, an activist who took part in the Charlottesville rally; and Tim Gionet, known online as Baked Alaska, who was among the torch-carrying white nationalists in Charlottesville protesting the removal of a statue depicting Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
On social media, Boston Free Speech sought to distance the rally from the events in Charlottesville. But that was the context in which many, including top Boston city officials, saw the event.
“Boston does not welcome you here, Boston does not want you here, Boston rejects your message,” Mayor Martin Walsh said at an afternoon press conference about the planned rally. “We will do every single thing in our power to keep hate out of our city.”
Walsh, a Democrat, said Monday that the right-wing activists planning Saturday’s rally on Boston Common have not filed for any permits from the city.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said he expected large crowds of counterprotesters to descend on the city, and that his department would do its best to keep the groups separated to avoid the same kind of violence seen over the weekend.
“It’s pretty sad that we have to waste so many resources on such a group, such a group with such hatred coming to Massachusetts when we should be focusing on the safety of children on the streets of the city,” Evans said.
Following the attention placed on the event, several speakers began pulling out.
“I think I’m pulling out of the Boston free speech rally,” social media star and Donald Trump supporter Casssandra Fairbanks posted on Facebook. “The left is fully unhinged and organizers and speakers are all getting too many threats.”
Gavin McInnes, founder of the men’s organization Proud Boys, who describe themselves as “Western chauvinists,” also announced his withdrawal from the event on social media, and Invictus told The Boston Globe that the event’s organizers told him they were canceling.
But on the Boston Free Speech Facebook page, organizers posted Monday evening that the event was still on.
The rally has emboldened activists across the state, including in the Pioneer Valley, to protest. As of Monday evening, there were over 6,000 confirmed attendees on Facebook for two counterdemonstrations on Saturday.
“I don’t exactly know the numbers, but I know that is the thing people are going to this weekend,” Jeff Napolitano, director at the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts, told the Gazette. “It is the event people are motivated and upset about, and are determined to push back against.”
Napolitano said he and fellow local activist Patricia “Paki” Wieland are holding a training Thursday on nonviolent, direct action for those wishing to travel to Boston on Saturday.
The Rev. Todd Weir of First Churches of Northampton said people from his congregation will likely go, and he urged those who do go to get trained in nonviolent protest.
“There’s just a lot of things to know about how to be safe and how to be effective,” he said.
Northampton resident Dan Krauss, 68, on Monday posted on one of the counterdemonstrations’ Facebook pages, expressing an interest in carpooling to the protest.
“Whenever and wherever bigotry and fascism rears its ugly head, it has to be stopped,” he told the Gazette.
Other progressive groups are also deciding whether to attend, including the recently formed local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — a leftist organization that has seen explosive growth following the presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and which was one over several leftist organizations counterprotesting in Virginia.
“The decision would have to be made democratically within our group, and we’re still talking about it,” said Dave Lartigue, who is on the group’s interim steering committee. “But the subject has been brought up.”
Those who go may well be joined by the state’s governor and Boston’s mayor, both of whom suggested during Monday’s press conference that they might attend.
“First of all, why don’t we call it a unity rally instead of a counter-protest, I think I would like that better,” Gov. Charlie Baker said. “I actually don’t know what’s on my calendar Saturday, but if I can come, I will come.”
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.