Monthly Archives: August 2017

The Boston Free Speech Rally, organized by agroup known as the Boston Free Speech Coalition, invited libertarians, conservatives, traditionalists, classical liberals, (Donald) Trump supporters or anyone else who enjoys their right to free speech. The groupfully distanced itself from the events in Charlottesville last weekend, after violence broke out between a white supremacist rally andAntifa.

Contrary to a lot of the rumors out there, the purpose of the rally is to denounce the kind of political violence that we have seen a sort of rising tide throughout the country, and particularly most recently in Charlottesville, organizer John MedlartoldCNN affiliate WBZ.

Speakers attending the rally include former Infowars reporter Joe Biggs, Republican congressional candidate Shiva Ayyadurai, andLibertariancongressional candidateSamson Racioppi. Other invited speakers, such as commentator Gavin MacInnes and Tim Gionet (also known as Baked Alaska) decided not to attend.

However, Bostons Mayor Marty Walsh confirmed that over 500 police officers will be deployed to oversee the event to prevent any potential violence, as the local Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapter andANSWER Coalition Boston have receivedinterest in planned counter-protests.

It went from a few hundred to well over 1,000 to now roughly 3,000 pretty quickly, said ANSWER Coalition Boston organizer Nino Brown. There are about 10,000 interested in our event, according to Facebook.

Meanwhile, a BLM-organized demonstration called Fight Supremacy saw similar levels of interest, raising more than $20,000 by Thursday night, while expecting over 10,000 attendees.

Boston Police CommissionerBilly Evans confirmed that authorities would be watching the crowd really closely.

I hope anyone who protests and is marching is doing it for the right reason, Evans said. Unfortunately, I think theres going to be a few troublemakers here.

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Thousands of Leftists Expected to Torpedo Boston Free Speech ...

After a day of mostly peaceful protest, President Donald Trump told marchers that he applauded them for speaking out against bigotry and hate. But only after he also called out "many anti-police agitators" for their actions.

A right-wing group had planned to protest in Boston Common Saturday, but broke up their rally prematurely as thousands over counterprotestors overwhelmed their event.

Trump praised the Boston Police Department and Mayor Marty Walsh for how they handled a controversial "Free Speech Rally" and thousands-strong counterprotest Saturday.

The counter-protest reportedly drew at least 30,000 people occasionally erupted into confrontation, and almost 30 arrests were made, according to the Boston Globe.

Hours after the sparsely attended rally ended, the Boston Police Twitter feed reported individuals near a "sit-in" protest close to the intersection of Tremon and West were throwing rocks, urine, and other projectiles at officers.

At least one public transit station had been shutdown, according to the Boston Transportation department.

The event was held a week after a white supremacist march and counter-protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, ended in bloodshed.

Trump said in a tweet Saturday afternoon that he saw many "anti-police agitators" in coverage of the event and praised the police for looking "tough and smart."

The president went on to thank law enforcement and Boston's mayor for a "great job."

He later tweeted that the "country has been divided for decades," that sometimes protest is necessary in order to "heel" (sic).

He then resent the tweet with the proper spelling of the word "heal."

A law enforcement official told the Associated Press earlier Saturday that there were about 20 arrests, but no serious injuries were reported during the event.

Many counterprotesters still remain in the area, including a few who were among people chanting "Black Lives Matter" who burned a confederate flag, AP reported.

The "Free Speech" rally itself was sparsely attended, according to Boston.com. Barely 20 people were reportedly seen attending the rally in Boston Common, which had a permit to go until 2 p.m.

According to multiple reports, the few "Free Speech" protesters in the park left around 1 p.m. local time, escorted by police. It's unclear if there are other events being held elsewhere in the city.

The "Free Speech Rally" organizers have publicly distanced themselves from the white supremacist groups that marched in Charlottesville last week.

Hundreds of counter-protesters had surrounded the perimeter of the park in downtown Boston during the rally.

Boston's Walsh on Friday had urged counter-protesters to stay away from the event, arguing that their presence would simply draw more attention to the far-right activists. But on Saturday, the mayor was seen walking with the march, and later attended a rally called West Broadway Unity Day in South Boston, according to Boston.com.

Organizers of the "Free Speech" rally had denounced the violence and racist chants of the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" protest.

"We are a coalition of libertarians, progressives, conservatives, and independents and we welcome all individuals and organizations from any political affiliations that are willing to peaceably engage in open dialogue about the threats to, and importance of, free speech and civil liberties," the group said on Facebook.

The event'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.

At least 500 police officers, many on bicycles, were on hand to keep the expected crowd of a few hundred people at the "Free Speech" rally separate from thousands attending a counter-protest by people who believe the event could become a platform for racist propaganda.

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Far outnumbered, Boston 'Free Speech' rally ends early

(BOSTON) Boston will deploy about 500 police officers on Saturday to prevent possible violence at a free speech rally and planned counterprotests, the mayor and police commissioner said Friday.

"We will not tolerate any misbehavior, violence or vandalism whatsoever," Police Commissioner William Evans said at a City Hall news conference.

The city granted permission for what organizers are calling a free speech rally on Boston Common, but which some people fear is actually a white nationalist event similar to the Unite the Right rally in Virginia last weekend that erupted in violence and left one person dead.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh pointed out that some of those invited to speak "spew hate." Kyle Chapman, who described himself on Facebook as a "proud American nationalist," said he will attend.

"They have the right to gather no matter how repugnant their views are," Walsh said. "We're going to respect their right of free speech. In return they must respect our city."

The Boston Free Speech Coalition says its rally has nothing to do with white nationalism, Nazism or racism and that they are not affiliated with the organizers of the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally.

"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 said on its Facebook page.

Its permit is for 100 people, though an organizer has said he expected up to 1,000 people to attend.

Organizers of a counterprotest expect thousands of people to join them on a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) march from the city's Roxbury neighborhood to the Common to "stand in defiance of white supremacy," activist Monica Cannon said.

"I don't think what they are exuding is free speech, I believe it is hate speech," she said at a separate news conference Friday.

Organizers promised a peaceful counterprotest.

Another group is planning a separate "Stand for Solidarity" rally on the Statehouse steps near the Common.

The police presence in Boston will include undercover officers mingling in the crowds and officers on bicycles, Evans said. More officers will be held in reserve in case of trouble. Transit police will increase their presence at subway stations in the area. Weapons of all kinds, even sticks used to carry signs, are banned. The sides will be separated by barricades.

Popular tourist attractions, including the Frog Pond on the Common, and the Swan Boats in the adjacent Public Garden, are being shut down for the day. Streets around the Common are also being blocked to vehicle traffic.

Extra security cameras have been installed at the bandstand where the free speech rally is taking place. Walsh noted it's a spot where Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and President Barack Obama have spoken.

State police troopers are also available if needed, Gov. Charlie Baker said.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure tomorrow is about liberty and justice, and about freedom and peace," he said.

Boston isn't the only city preparing for such a rally.

Dallas police said Friday they will have extra officers on duty for a rally against white supremacy planned for City Hall Plaza on Saturday night.

Supporters of keeping the city's Confederate monuments have also posted on social media about a counterprotest, but it was unclear Friday whether that event would occur.

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Boston Prepares for Free Speech Rally and Counterprotests ...

La Jolla Playhouse Presents

July 29 August 21, 2016

Free Speech! (While Supplies Last) offers an irreverent look at Americas electoral insanity. This topical new show features political satire made famous by Second City stars like Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and Keegan-Michael Key, as well as brand new scenes, songs and improv straight from their sold-out shows in Chicago and Toronto. This must-see evening of comedy features some of Chicagos best and brightest in a special three-week engagement.

Click here for full company bios and to read more in-depth articles about the show.

Contains strong language and adult situations.

Patron Services will be happy to answer any questions you have at (858) 550-1010.

Please check back for more information.

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The Mandell Weiss Forum is a 400-seat thrust stage theatre, with audience members surrounding the stage on three sides. It contains a rehearsal hall, two courtyards and an outdoor "lobby." Built with sleek industrial materials and intersecting geometric shapes, it has a long free-standing entry wall with massive reflective smoky-glass panes that generate the illusion of being both within and outside of the partition.

> Learn more

Children under the age of 6 are not permitted in the theatre during performances unless otherwise posted.

Every Thursday during the run of Free Speech, starts at 7:00 pm

Join us before your performance for complimentary beer tastings from Modern Times Brewery. Presented by La Jolla Playhouse in partnership with James Place. Includes two 3-oz beer tastings.

Every Friday during the run of Free Speech (except August 5), starts at 6:00 pm

Theatergoers are invited to attend Foodie Fridays, where a ticket to select Playhouse performances also includes access to some of San Diegos finest food trucks!

Every Saturday evening during the run of Free Speech

Enjoy live music before the show. More details to follow.

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The Second City's Free Speech! (While Supplies Last)

One week after violent protests rattled Charlottesville, Virginia, a scheduled free speech rally in Boston Saturday was met with thousands of counterprotesters, but the day went off mostly smoothly, police said, with 33 arrests but few injuries.

The free speech rally was deemed "officially over" by police ahead of its official end time, but thousands of counterprotesters continued to spread out in the city throughout the afternoon, with some protesting peacefully but others confronting officers and people.

A total of 33 arrests were made Saturday, mostly from disorderly conduct and a few assaults on police officers, the Boston Police Department announced. Police Commissioner William Evans said at a news conference this afternoon that some urine-filled bottles were thrown at officers, and police indicated on Twitter that some demonstrators were throwing rocks at police.

But for the most part, Evans said, the day of direct action went off smoothly as police planned, with very little injury and property damage.

"Overall I thought we got the First Amendment people in, we got them out, no one got hurt, no one got killed," he said.

Police did stop three people with ballistic vests and a gun, Evans said, "but we were lucky to get those three out of here and confiscate the vests."

Evans said roughly 40,000 people descended on Boston Saturday, "standing tall against hatred and bigotry in our city, and that's a good feeling." He added that he wished the "trouble makers stayed away," who he said weren't there for either the free speech side or the counterprotesters' side, but "were here just to cause problems."

Evans said that "99.9 percent of the people here were for the right reasons -- that's to fight bigotry and hate."

Saturday's massive gathering of demonstrators across Boston was sparked by a free speech rally set to take place from noon to 2 p.m. at Boston Common. But the rally was deemed "officially over" in a tweet from Boston police at 1:30 p.m ET, and police said the demonstrators had left the Common.

Libertarian congressional candidate Samson Racioppi, who was set to speak at the free speech event, told ABC affiliate WCVB, "I really think it was supposed to be a good event by the organizers, but it kind of fell apart."

An organizer of the free speech event said the group has no affiliation with the white supremacists involved in the violence in Charlottesville, but a small number of Ku Klux Klan members were expected to attend, ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston reported.

After the free speech event has concluded, counterprotesters still swarmed Boston this afternoon, and riot police also responded in the city.

The giant crowds of counterprotesters first gathered in the city this morning holding signs with phrases like, "hate speech is not free speech" and "white silence is violence."

Counterprotesters chanted "no fascists, no KKK, no racist USA."

One Massachusetts woman who drove three hours to Boston to attend today's counterprotest told ABC News she has felt "months of depression" and "absolute outrage."

"And after Saturday [at Charlottesville]," she said, "I just cannot be silent anymore."

Of the free speech rally attendees, she said, "I was glad to see that their crowd was very small. That spoke volumes to me.

"We have a really long way to go and we have to end white supremacy in all of its forms," she added.

Another counterprotester told ABC News, "I just wanted to come out and confront them head on, and I didn't want to miss this chance."

"I didn't think that we would ever have to have this confrontation in 2017," she said, "so it feels really vital to just come out and try to stamp it out today. And I'm encouraged by how many other people came out."

While many counterprotesters marched peacefully, some scuffled with armed officers.

Video showed several officers taking an individual to the ground after he angrily confronted the officers.

Amid the confrontations, Boston police tweeted that individuals are asked to "refrain from throwing urine, bottles and other harmful projectiles at our officers."

President Trump on Saturday afternoon thanked the police in a tweet, saying they look "tough and smart" against what he said appeared to be "anti-police agitators."

Trump also tweeted, "I want to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one!" Boston Mayor Marty Wash responded to that message by saying that his city stood together for "peace and love."

First daughter Ivanka Trump on Saturday night tweeted, "It was beautiful to see thousands of people across the U.S.A come together today to peacefully denounce bigotry, racism & anti-Semitism ... We must continue to come together, united as Americans!"

Throughout the day, protesters also scuffled with each other.

In one tense scene between a man and a counterprotester at the Common, the counterprotester followed the man, saying, "We only hate hate." The man shouted, "Get away from me. Stay right there! You're not even a me [sic], you're not even a woman, you're an it!" As the man walked away, he kicked and punched into the air, leading one counterprotester to yell "Get your bigotry out of here, a------." The man shoved another counterprotester, which caused more people to step in to make sure the situation didn't escalate.

Boston city officials said they planned to deploy hundreds of police officers today to prevent violence similar to what took place in Charlottesville last weekend, where a rally by white nationalists, including neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members demonstrating over plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue, ended in the death of a counterprotester after a car was rammed into a crowd that was marching through the streets.

"We're going to respect their right to free speech, Walsh said Friday, but "they don't have the right to create unsafe conditions."

Scheduled to speak at the free speech rally, which was organized by the Boston Free Speech Coalition, were 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 Racioppi.

Walsh said that some of those invited to speak "spew hate," The Associated Press reported.

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 on its Facebook page.

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

WCVB reported that the KKKs national director, Thomas Robb, said as many as five KKK members from Springfield and possibly more from Boston were planning to attend today's rally.

Several other rallies were planned across the U.S. Saturday. Many are in response to the Charlottesville violence last weekend, as well as the movement to remove Confederate statues across the country, and in reaction to Trumps controversial press conference on Tuesday.

The "Rally Against White Supremacy" took place in Austin, Texas, while the Black Lives Matter Protests to remove Confederate statues took place in Houston, and the United Against HATE: Demand Racist President Trump Resign rally was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Events were also planned in cities including Atlanta, New Orleans and Dallas.

ABC News' Erin Keohane and Meghan Keneally contributed to this report.

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Counterprotesters swarm Boston after police deem free ...

Boston police said 27 people were arrested during day-long demonstrations to protest hate speech a week after a woman was killed at a Virginia white supremacist rally. (Reuters)

BOSTON Tens of thousands of counterprotesters crammed Boston Common and marched through city streets Saturday morning in efforts to drown out the planned free speech rally that many feared would be attended by white-supremacist groups.

By 1 p.m., the handful of rally attendees had left the Boston Common pavillion, concluding their event without planned speeches. A victorious cheer went up among the counterprotesters, as many began to leave. Hundreds of othersdancedin circles andsang, Hey hey, ho ho. White supremacy has got to go.

City officials said that at least 40,000 people participated in the counter protest, 20,000 of whom participated in a march across town.Tensions flared as police escorted some rally attendees out of the Common, prompting several physical altercations between police and counterprotesters.

Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said there were 27 arrests, primarily for disorderly conduct. He said no officers or protesters were injured and there was no property damage. Evans added that three individuals were wearing ballistics vests, one of whom was later found to be armed. It is unclear if those three are among the arrests.

Evans said there were three groups of people in attendance: attendees of the free speech rally, counter protesters, and a small group of people who showed up to cause trouble.

Overall everyone did a good job, Evans said. 99.9 percent of people were here for the right reason, and thats to fight bigotry.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh met up with the counterprotesters at themarch.

I think its clear today that Boston stood for peace and love, not bigotry and hate, he said.

[Donald Trump brought me here today: Counterprotesters rout neo-Nazi rally in Berlin]

President Donald Trump praised law enforcement and Mayor Marty Walsh via tweet Saturday afternoon for their handling of the crowds, saying that there appeared to be many anti-police agitators in Boston. More than an hour later, he tweeted support for protesters.

The showdown between right-wing ralliers and the far larger group of counterprotesters in the heart of downtown Boston comes just one week after a chaotic gathering of far-right political groups including neo-Nazis, white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan members left dozens injured and one woman dead in Charlottesville aftera reported neo-Naziallegedly plowed his carinto a crowd of counterprotesters.

In anticipation of potential violence, city officials corralled more than 500 police officers onto the Common, installed security cameras and constructed elaborate barriers to separate the free-speech rally from the massive demonstration in opposition to it. The handful of rally attendees gathered beneath a pavilion near the center of the Common, surrounded by metal barriers and dozens of police. Several hundred feet away, thousands of counterprotesters surrounding them carrying signs declaring Black Lives Matter and Hate Has No Home In Boston, while mockingly chanting we cant hear you when it appeared the ralliers had begun to speak.

One moment of tension came when rally attendees ventured outside of the barriersand were promptly confronted by counterprotesters. One man, draped in a Donald Trump flag, was immediately surrounded by media, while demonstrators chanted at him to go home.

[Shame!: Part of Bostons protest looked eerily like a scene from Game of Thrones]

One rally attendee, Luke St. Onge,a young man wearing a red Make America Great Again hat and GOP T-shirt, saidhe came even though he knew it might be attended by white-supremacist groups, whose views he said he does not agree with.

I definitely wouldnt associate myself with the KKK or any white supremacist. I dont stand with them at all, said St. Onge, who is from Las Vegas. I do support their right to an opinion, he added. Free speech is definitely something I stand for.

Plans for the Boston rally, which organizers said was not about white supremacy or Confederate monuments, were nearly scrapped following the violence in Charlottesville. Several speakerspulled out of or were uninvited from the event, but John Medlar, a Boston-area college student and the rallys lead organizer, said that the rally would go on.

Among those who were scheduled to speak were Joe Biggs, formerly a writer for the conspiracy-theory website Infowars, and Kyle Chapman, a far-right activistcharged with beating counterdemonstratorswith a wooden pole during a clash at the University of California in Berkeley earlier this year, though it is unclear if either man attended. Members of the KKKtold the Boston Heraldthat they expected several of the groups members to attend, but there was little, if any, visible KKK presence at the rally.

There have been questions about why we granted a permit for the rally, Walsh said on Friday. The courts have made it abundantly clear. They have the right to gather, no matter how repugnant their views are. But they dont have the right to create unsafe conditions. They have the right to free speech. In return, they have to respect our city.

Wewill not be offering our platform to racism or bigotry, organizers said in aFacebook postearlier this week. We denounce the politics of supremacy and violence.

Last weeks gathering in Virginia was ostensibly in protest of the proposed removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. In the days since, cities across the nation have announced the removal of dozens of Confederate monuments, sparking anew the long-heated debate over what, if anything, should be done with the hundreds of statutes, streets, and schoolhouses named after or in honor of those who fought to maintain slavery.

[Deconstructing the symbols and slogans spotted in Charlottesville]

Thousands of protesters are expected to attend rallies calling for the removal of Confederate monuments at cities across the country this weekend, including Dallas and New Orleans. Meanwhile, supporters of the Confederate monuments are also organizing, with a rally plannedin Hot Springs, Ark.

Organizers in Boston said todays gathering is not in solidarity with white nationalists, but few of those who attended the massive counterprotest believed them.Across town, thousands began gathering before 10 a.m. on Malcolm X Boulevard for a march to the Common.

Were not standing for it. Were not standing (for) white supremacy. Were not going to have it in our city, not in Boston, said Boston activist Monica Cannon, who was among those who organized the counterprotest. We want to send a clear message that you dont get to come to the city of Boston with your hatred.

Thousands of people demonstrated against a rally featuring right-wing political figures in downtown Boston on Aug. 19. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Rebecca Koskinen stood in front of her brick rowhouse on Tremont Street, awaiting the marchers, with her daughters Elle, 5, and Liv, 1. The older daughters sign read Im only five and even I know Black Lives Matter.

Koskinen said she and her husband, who are white, had taken the girls to the several other marches earlier this year and felt that it was important to show support for an event that was particularly important to people of color especially because Elle will soon start kindergarten at a private school that is less diverse than the South End neighborhood where they live.

Because shes not going to public school, it felt really important to me to talk about this with her and how different groups are treated, Koskinen said.

Joel Moran, a Boston resident who attended the march with his partner and a friend, said he was moved to have my voice heard against white supremacists, against people who think that, for some reason, they have more rights than other people have.

Moran said they were absolutely influenced to participate today after the tragedy in Charlottesville.

It wasnt even on my radar until last weekend, he said. After seeing that and having a very emotional and disturbing response to that, I feel like its basically my responsibility.

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Boston free speech rally ends early amid flood of ...

Counterprotesters during Saturdays march from Roxbury to Boston Common.

Boston Common was the scene of two rallies Saturday. One was joyous and boisterous, the other minuscule and impotent. One triumphed, one fizzled.

There was supposed to be a free speech rally at which self-described libertarians were supposed to make some kind of statement about their rights, with the help of a few speakers from the far right. It started late, ended early, and its headliners were fortunate to make it out of the area unscathed.

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The so-called counterprotest was the days true main event a resounding display of unity and harmony.

The crowd for the counterprotest began gathering early in Roxbury. By the time they began marching from Malcolm X Boulevard to the Common, the crowd was an estimated 15,000 strong, far larger than anticipated. It was a mix of Black Lives Matter activists, suburban Womens March veterans, organized labor stalwarts, and regular citizens intent on refusing to let intolerance carry the day. There was a visible, through unobtrusive, police presence, bolstered by a significant cadre of undercover officers and a SWAT team.

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As the crowd grew, Superintendent in Chief Willie Gross of the Boston Police Department worked the crowd. He thanked marcher after marcher, individually, for coming out to make their voices heard. He complimented people on their creative signs. He took dozens of pictures with marchers who looked relieved to discover that the police werent there to give them a hard time.

This is how we do it in Boston, he said. We exercise our right to free speech, but we do it peacefully. If anyone starts anything [at the Common] well get them right out.

Gross was also monitoring events around town by radio. And something unexpected was happening or not happening downtown: right-wing troublemakers, who so many feared would trigger violence, were barely showing up.

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By the time, the counterprotesters, fortified by a brass band, began their march down Columbus Avenue, the it was clear that the other side was likely to be drowned out.

After the counterprotesters were on their way, Gross stopped into the command center at Boston Police headquarters. There, a group of officers from agencies across the area watched both the Common and the counterprotesters on a bank of television monitors. Commissioner William Evans was in charge.

To my surprise, Governor Charlie Baker was there too. True to form, he was immersed in the details. He said he was there because hed been nervous. But by early afternoon, everyone in the room was breathing a tentative sigh of relief. As planned, the protesters and counterprotesters were far enough apart to have little opportunity for direct confrontation. The major concern of the free speech group seemed to be getting out of the area.

One of them was followed down Charles Street South by a group of counterprotesters chanting Shame! as police led him away. Others, on the Tremont Street side, were taken out by police in riot gear. A small number were held voluntarily, police said in a building on Boylston Street across from the Common, until after the crowd thinned out.

In effect, the free speech rally became a giant peace rally. The were a few tense encounters between police and demonstrators, but nothing out of the ordinary for an event like this.

To be smug about that would be silly. Theres doesnt seem to be much doubt, in this unstable time, that those who harbor bigotry and hate feel more free to express, and act on, those feelings than they have in years. Theres no question that a president who cannot bring himself to condemn evil has emboldened it.

But Boston resisted, emphatically. Thats no small thing.

Toward the end of the day, Gross stared over at an empty Boston Common bandstand, abandoned ahead of schedule by the free speech provocateurs.

I wont say they were driven out, but they decided to leave, Gross said. I think they were influenced by love. They couldnt stand any more.

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As a 'free speech' rally fizzled, a march for unity triumphed - The Boston Globe

Last Saturday, my adopted home was invaded by a throng of white nationalistsmany heavily armed. They were opposed primarily by area residents, like myself. The results of that protestthe violence, injuries, and deathare by now well known.

I have called Charlottesville home for six years. When I got an offer to join the faculty of the University of Virginia Law School, I was hesitant to leave my native country, the Netherlands, to move to a small town in the American South. But I am glad I did; Charlottesville has been a wonderful place to live: a friendly, cosmopolitan, and welcoming college town.

As images of armed militias and others waving and wearing swastikas made their way across the globe, many of my European friends and family messaged me to ask why the government was allowing this to happen. After all, events would not have unfolded as they did if Charlottesville were in my native country, or for that matter, in any European country. Europeans reject and criminalize certain types of expression they define as hate speech. Much of the speech that we witnessed in Charlottesville would have qualified as such.

This trans-Atlantic difference is largely the product of Europes own history with Nazism. Many Europeans share complicated histories of Nazism that current generations are still grappling with. My own family history illustrates this.

On the eve of WWII, my working-class great-grandparents, like a large number of Dutch, joined the National Socialist Movement (NSB), a Nazi-aligned Dutch party. My family was poor, and joining the NSB improved my great-grandfathers prospects for getting a factory job. Those who knew them insist that anti-Semitism did not motivate their decision to join the party. Still, they gradually started to buy into the partys sinister ideology. After the war my great-grandparents were imprisoned for their NSB affiliation.

My grandfather made a different choice from his parents: during the German occupation he joined the Dutch resistance. He was soon arrested and sent to a labor camp in Germany. He escaped the camp and ended up between enemy lines, where German soldiers executed his travel companions but spared him because of his blond hair and blue eyes. A German mayor helped him after he escaped the labor camp. After the war, he traveled back from Russia to the Netherlands with a girl named Stella who had survived Auschwitz but died giving birth to her first child. These stories were revealed to us in bits and pieces. My grandfather was an amateur poet and prolific writer, but the memories remained raw and painful, and it took him six decades to finally tell his story in a (still unpublished) book.

One ordinary working-class family ended up on different sides of one of the worst atrocities in human history. Our family never overcame those divides.

After WWII, western Europeansand decades later joined by their eastern compatriotsbuilt one of the strongest human-rights systems in the world. Within the framework of the Council of Europe they adopted the European Convention of Human Rights, which would be enforced by both national courts and the newly established European Court of Human Rights. This system protects free speech to an extent. European free-speech doctrine is based on the idea that free speech is important but not absolute, and must be balanced against other important values, such as human dignity.

As a result, freedom of expression can be restricted proportionally when it serves to spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an international human rights treaty, reflects similar principles. This balancing of free speech against other values led Germany to ban parties with Nazi ideologies and recently, to prosecute Chinese tourists who performed a Hitler salute in front of the Reichstag. It led France to outlaw the sale of Nazi paraphernalia on eBay, led Austria to jail a discredited historian who denies the holocaust, and caused the Netherlands to criminalize the selling of Mein Kampf. It is for this same reason that many Europeans could not believe the open display of swastika flags in Charlottesville.

Since WWII, the United States has taken a different tack, exceptional from a global perspective. American free-speech doctrine protects a panoply of viewpoints, even when they target ethnic or religious groups, cause deep offense, or are false by consensus. One underlying theory for doing so is that bad ideas will eventually lose out in a well-functioning marketplace. Some go so far as to argue that it is valuable in itself for a society to tolerate even the most extreme viewpoints. Hence, speech can almost never be restricted on the basis of viewpoint. Most famously, that approach protected the rights of neo-Nazis to march through heavily Jewish parts of Skokie in a 1977 Supreme Court case. It is the approach that allowed neo-Nazis and other white supremacists to demonstrate in Charlottesville on Saturday.

Americans are generally proud of their free speech tradition, and many argue that the European approach is unprincipled or ineffective. Why is denying the Holocaust forbidden, but depicting the prophet Muhammedwhich is blasphemous to many Muslimscondoned? Many of these lines reflect majority opinion and national experience rather than neutral principles. And policing speech can embolden those being censored. When the far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders was convicted for inciting discrimination, he became even more popular among some groups.

Whatever its merits, the European position is rooted in its experiences that the free market of ideas can faildisastrously. Dangerous ideas can catch on quickly, especially when people holding power or influence endorse them. My great-grandparents were not like the protestors in Charlottesville last weekend; they were ordinary citizens who saw their economic lot improve and stayed silent because they benefited from, what some knew thenand nearly everyone knows nowwere toxic ideas.

America today is different from Europe in the 1940s. But Europes history raises the question: Can we count on the market of ideas to succeed? Is it possible for white supremacy and related ideologies to spread beyond the relatively small number of Unite-the-Right fanatics and their brethren? Some suggest that Donald Trumps election is one piece of evidence thats its already happened.

There are no easy answer to these questions. But I believe that in a system where government does not police vile ideas, as in the United States, a larger burden falls on ordinary citizens and other private actors. It is my (admittedly anecdotal) observation that, to some extent, Americans are already doing this. Americans who express objectionable views face harsher community judgement than Europeans who do so.

My American fiance has often expressed shock that the Dutch still commonly use the term neger (negro) although its usage is increasingly controversial. A team of all-black-faced helpers officially accompany the Dutch Santa before Christmas each year. And I have occasionally found myself surprised to learn that there are some things that I absolutely cannot say here, or that people can lose their jobs for what they say off-hours.

Americans long have been caught up in debates over whether there is too much political correctness. Though they are starting to emerge, there are many fewer such debates in Europe. To some extent that is understandable; when the government polices speech, ordinary citizens do not have to concern themselves with all the subtle ramifications of speech. What we may be seeing is a substitution effect: Ordinary citizens in the U.S. take it upon themselves to do what governments are doing elsewhere.

A minority of Americans believe that Donald Trump got elected in part because political correctness has gone too far. They believe that Trump is a healthy corrective in a society in which people are policing each other too much.

But the Charlottesville events, viewed through the lens of European history and its response in law, may teach us that we private citizens and residents in the U.S. need to work even harder to expose the rotten ideas being peddled in the marketplace. When leaders condone hate speech (as Trumps condemnation of both sides and his insistence that the alt-right protestors included some very fine people arguably did) and ordinary people acquiesce, the market can break down quickly. European history has shown this. In an unregulated marketplace of ideas, private citizens need to take up the burden of holding the line against racist extremism.

Kevin Cope, University of Virginia School of Law and Department of Politics, contributed to this article.

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What Europe Can Teach America About Free Speech - The Atlantic

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Boston rally touting free speech: Live updates CNN (CNN) Thousands of counterprotesters gathered Saturday in downtown Boston in response to a self-described free speech rally at Boston Common. The demonstrations come a week after protests over race and national identity in Charlottesville, Virginia, ...

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Boston rally touting free speech: Live updates - CNN

Photo Credit Hanna Barczyk

Even before violence erupted in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend, city residents and the police anxiously watched the arrival of self-styled militias swaggering gangs of armed civilians in combat fatigues standing guard over the protest by white supremacists and other racist agitators against the removal of a Confederate statue.

Who were these men, counterprotesters asked as the riflemen took up watchful positions around the protest site. Police? National Guard? The Virginia National Guard had to send out an alert that its members wore a distinctive MP patch. This was so people could tell government-sanctioned protectors from unauthorized militias that have been posing as law-and-order squads at right-wing rallies.

In brandishing weapons in Charlottesville, the militiamen added an edge of intimidation to a protest that was ostensibly called as an exercise in free speech. By flaunting their right to bear arms, they made a stark statement in a looming public confrontation. You would have thought they were an army, noted Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, one of 45 states that allow the open carrying of rifles in public to some degree, most without a permit required.

The limits of that freedom are being increasingly tested by jury-rigged militias at demonstrations, public meetings and other political flash points around the nation. These strutting vigilantes have become such a threatening presence that government should rein them in to allow for a truly free exchange of ideas. State and federal laws would seem to allow their curtailment, provided that political leaders and the courts face up to the risks of mob rule.

No shots were fired in the Charlottesville violence, but with more alt-right rallies planned the danger that these militia members loaded weapons might be used increases. The armed groups mostly back up right-wing protests, although there was one militia in Charlottesville claiming to protect peaceful counterdemonstrators at a church. (The protest also drew antifa anti-fascist counterprotesters on the political left, ready to brawl with fists and sticks against those on the other side.)

Police officials have warned that gun-packing vigilantes only compound the risks in confrontations. Charlottesville officials, citing public safety, had sought to move the protest to a different site but were rebuffed in federal court. The American Civil Liberties Union defended the protesters free speech rights, though lawyers concede that the issue is becoming more complex as the potential for violence grows. Some critics think that the intrusive militias in Charlottesville could have contributed to the initial hesitation by the police to break up the violence.

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The Gunmen at 'Free Speech' Rallies - New York Times