A White supremacist group that marched through the streets of Boston on Saturday allegedly attacked a Black man during a confrontation. According to the Boston Herald, a group of about 100 Patriot Front members was spotted flying flags and holding shields while marching through downtown Boston.
The members who partook in the march covered their faces with white masks and wore sunglasses. Photos also showed them flying colonial and upside-down flags of the United States. Multiple flags also displayed the symbol of Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party.
“If you truly wish for safety, you will have it. But you can take nothing else with you,” an unmasked Patriot Front member told onlookers when they stopped at the Boston Public Library. “Not your home, not your family, not your liberty. There you will be alone with your safety in a rotted world.”
Tensions reportedly flared during the march, and authorities said a Black man sustained injuries following a confrontation with the Patriot Front members. The Black man informed police that members of the White supremacist group pushed him to the ground and assaulted him during the confrontation.
Authorities have since initiated a civil rights investigation into the incident. Arrests are, however, yet to be made. Boston mayor Michelle Wu condemned the marchers’ actions in a tweet.
“To the white supremacists who ran through downtown today: When we march, we don’t hide our faces. Your hate is as cowardly as it is disgusting, and it goes against all that Boston stands for,” Wu wrote.
“The disgusting, hateful actions and words of white supremacist groups are not welcome in this city. Especially in a moment when so many of our rights are under attack, we will not normalize intimidation by bigots,” Wu added in a statement, per the Boston Herald. “This weekend as we remember Boston’s legacy as the cradle of liberty, we celebrate the continued fight to expand those liberties for all and ensure that Boston will be a city for everyone.”
City Council president Ed Flynn also told the news outlet that he was “outraged and disgusted at the white supremacist group protesting” in the city.
“It’s critical to call out hate and intimidation when we see it, educate children on horrors of the past and stand with the Jewish community, our immigrant neighbors and communities of color,” Flynn said.
Per the Anti-Defamation League, the Patriot Front “has been responsible for the vast majority of white supremacist propaganda distributed in the United States” since 2019.
“One of the United States’ most visible white supremacist groups, Patriot Front participates in localized ‘flash demonstrations’ across the nation.”
