BOSTON — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took a moment Monday morning to comment on a white supremacist group seen in Boston over the weekend.
“I want to note that just a few days ago we were interrupted in our celebrations by a hateful group that descended on Boston — a white nationalist, a white supremacist group from outside our city who choose to try and co-opt this birthplace of democracy,” she said before the Fourth of July parade began.
“We wholeheartedly and overwhelmingly reject your message of hate, your discretion of the American flag that you carry — it is this display that we hold up as the birthplace of America that everyone has the right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and we will fight every day to make sure that that mission for freedom for every single human being is complete,” Wu continued.
Also on Monday, Charles Murrell and the New Democracy Coalition held a press conference to say that Murrell was assaulted by the group. Murrell told police that he was surrounded by men carrying shields, and when a shoving match started, his hand, head, and eyebrow got cut.
A photo from the scene shows men with shields pushing Murrell against a pole.
“I’ve always used art as a means of resistance,” Murrell said at the press conference. He sang a song and declined to share more details about the incident.
According to ADL New England Regional Director Robert Trestan, more than 100 people from the Patriot Front group gathered in Downtown Boston.
“People are characterizing it as a protest but I think we need to take a look at everything that we saw and heard which really has all of the indicators of an act of defiance, an act of intimidation,” Trestan said.
They were masked and wearing “Reclaim America” shirts. Some of the men carried police shields and flags.
“For the most part, nobody knew that this was going to happen, that is an indicator to us and I think to communities and law enforcement that they are very well organized, that the group is willing to travel,” said Trestan.
It’s known that the group’s leadership is not from Massachusetts and many people came from out of state. The group like to have demonstrations around patriotic holidays. Trestan said the choices to meet in Boston during the July 4th weekend are no coincidence.
But this isn’t the first time the group has visited the city. According to City Councilor Ed Flynn, they’ve been here multiple times in the last year.
“They’re here to divide the residents, to spread hate,” said Flynn. He said Boston Police have a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the group and he hopes members will be prosecuted.
Trestan said, “They don’t just hide their faces behind those masks, they’re actually hiding their anti-semitism, their racism, their white supremacy. All of that is hidden behind not just the mask, but a mask pretending that it’s around patriotism.”
