Roadblocks, weapons bans as Boston braces for 'Free Speech' rally

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

#U.S. AUGUST 18, 2017 / 11:37 AM / AN HOUR AGO

Roadblocks, weapons bans as Boston braces for 'Free Speech' rally

Scott Malone
3 MIN READ

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston officials are planning road blockades and even banning food vendors from the historic Boston Common as they step up security around a "Free Speech" rally on Saturday featuring right-wing speakers, aiming to avoid a repeat of last weekend's violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia.

Some 500 police officers will be on the streets around the popular tourist destination. They are planning to close some roadways to vehicles, mindful of the car attacks that killed a woman in Charlottesville and 13 in an attack in Barcelona on Thursday.

"We all know the tragedy that happened in Barcelona. That only makes us more vigilant," said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, who was the department's second-in-command during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Saturday's rally has drawn intense concern from city and state officials following the violence in Charlottesville, when white supremacists at a "Unite the Right" rally fought in the streets with anti-racism protesters. A woman was killed at that event when a man said to have neo-Nazi sympathies crashed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring another 19 people.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-protests-boston-idUSKCN1AY1RX

[BigmanPigman]

1. They'd better get SWAT ready too.

No vehicles should be allowed for a 15 block radius. Making blockades of armored vehicles should be used to separate the groups and keep a large space empty (like a de-militarized zone).