Counterprotesters assemble at the Statehouse before a planned "Free Speech" rally by conservative organizers begins on the adjacent Boston Common, on Saturday. Michael Dwyer/AP hide caption

Counterprotesters assemble at the Statehouse before a planned "Free Speech" rally by conservative organizers begins on the adjacent Boston Common, on Saturday.

Updated at 1:00 p.m. ET

Thousands of counterprotesters gathered on the Boston Common on Saturday, far outnumbering a "Free Speech" rally of a few dozen conservative activists who said they have no connection to last week's violent protests in Charlottesville, Va., which drew white nationalists and sparked violent clashes and a deadly vehicle attack.

Under police escort, the Free-Speech demonstrators left the location where they said they would rally as they faced a sea of counterprotesters. It wasn't immediately clear if they would reassemble elsewhere.

Earlier, a speaker who addressed the counterdemonstrators condemned what many see as President Trump's tepid response to events last week in Charlottesville that led to the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

"If you don't condemn it, you condone it," the speaker said. Demonstrators also chanted "black lives matter" and "our streets."

Chris Hood, an 18-year-old Boston resident who planned to join the Free Speech rally, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying: "The point of this is to have political speech from across the spectrum, conservative, libertarian, centrist."

"This is not about Nazis. If there were Nazis here, I'd be protesting against them," Hood said.

Some 500 officers, both uniformed and undercover, have been deployed to maintain order, according to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a Democrat, both warned that extremist unrest in the city would not be tolerated.

Speaking with member station WBUR in Boston, an organizer of the self-described free speech rally insisted that the message from the demonstrators "is one that [is] anti-hate and pro-peace."

"I think we've taken pretty much every precaution, not only with [Boston police], but with the other organizers, to make sure our message is clear," John Medler, of the Boston Free Speech Coalition, said.

However, WBUR reported Friday that a "free speech" rally in Boston in May drew not only more mainstream conservative activists, but also some of the same groups that caused violence in Charlottesville:

"On May 13, a group of veterans, ex-police, Tea Party Republicans and young people affiliated with the self-described 'alt-right' a conservative faction that mixes racism, white nationalism, anti-Semitism and populism gathered around the Common's historic Parkman Bandstand.

"Organizers claimed that they were honoring their First Amendment right to assemble and express radical viewpoints. But the event felt more like a small, right-wing rally than a celebration of the Constitution."

For Saturday's rally, Police have banned backpacks and signs on sticks. The Boston Globe writes:

"Boston officials said Friday that they will shut down the Saturday event if there are signs of violence.

" 'The courts have made it abundantly clear that they have the right to gather, no matter how repugnant their views are,' said Mayor Martin J. Walsh. 'They don't have the right to create unsafe conditions. ... They must respect our city.' "

"He urged the public not to confront members of hate groups who show up Saturday and advised residents and tourists to avoid the Common during the rally."

WBUR's Bruce Gellerman, reporting from the Common, tells Weekend Edition Saturday that the site of the Parkman Bandstand, the focus of the rally, is historic because of speakers such as then-candidate Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass.

More:

Boston Right-Wing 'Free Speech' Rally Dwarfed By Counterprotesters - NPR