1 00:00:02,466 --> 00:00:04,000 HARI SREENIVASAN: Echoes of last weekend's protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, continued 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,500 to reverberate today. 3 00:00:06,500 --> 00:00:10,566 Counterprotesters took to the streets in Durham, North Carolina, even before a rumored white 4 00:00:11,733 --> 00:00:13,800 supremacist march got under way there. 5 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:18,233 And in Boston, police and city officials are preparing the city for a self-titled free 6 00:00:19,433 --> 00:00:20,966 speech demonstration slated for tomorrow. 7 00:00:20,966 --> 00:00:22,233 John Yang takes it from here. 8 00:00:22,233 --> 00:00:24,233 JOHN YANG: Thanks, Hari. 9 00:00:24,233 --> 00:00:27,866 To talk about how Boston authorities plan to deal with tomorrow's rally, I'm joined 10 00:00:27,866 --> 00:00:32,866 from Boston by Phillip Martin, a senior investigative reporter at PBS station WGBH. 11 00:00:33,766 --> 00:00:35,700 Phillip, thanks for joining us. 12 00:00:35,700 --> 00:00:37,766 First of all, help us understand this. 13 00:00:37,766 --> 00:00:42,366 Is there any connection between the people organizing tomorrow's event in Boston and 14 00:00:43,833 --> 00:00:46,766 the people who organized last week's event in Charlottesville? 15 00:00:46,766 --> 00:00:51,766 PHILLIP MARTIN, WGBH: Well, the people who are organizing tomorrow's event would like 16 00:00:53,100 --> 00:00:55,066 to say there's no connection. 17 00:00:55,066 --> 00:00:57,033 They call themselves the Free Speech Coalition. 18 00:00:57,033 --> 00:01:01,266 And I can talk about that later, what the Southern Poverty Law Center says about the 19 00:01:01,266 --> 00:01:03,366 Free Speech Coalition. 20 00:01:03,366 --> 00:01:07,666 But some of the same speakers, some who have now been disinvited or dropped out altogether, 21 00:01:09,566 --> 00:01:13,566 are some of the same people who are connected to the Charlottesville rally. 22 00:01:15,566 --> 00:01:18,800 We're talking about people like Augustus Invictus, a renowned white supremacist, someone who 23 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,733 believes that there should be a second civil war, and a fellow named Joe Biggs, notorious 24 00:01:23,733 --> 00:01:28,733 also within extreme right circles who also has an association with what many call the 25 00:01:30,133 --> 00:01:33,266 alt-right, what others simply call white supremacists. 26 00:01:33,266 --> 00:01:38,266 JOHN YANG: So, given that, what are Boston police and others doing to try to -- or what 27 00:01:39,733 --> 00:01:43,000 lessons do you think they have learned from Charlottesville? 28 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,366 What are they doing to make sure there isn't another Charlottesville? 29 00:01:46,366 --> 00:01:51,366 PHILLIP MARTIN: Well, they are intent on guaranteeing that there's not another Charlottesville. 30 00:01:56,033 --> 00:01:58,266 You could start with the deployment. 31 00:01:58,266 --> 00:02:01,100 We're talking about 500 police officers tomorrow. 32 00:02:01,100 --> 00:02:05,000 None of them will simply be sitting around, which is what they believe is one of the lessons 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,566 from Charlottesville, not that they were super critical of what happened in Charlottesville, 34 00:02:08,566 --> 00:02:10,600 but they're aware of it. 35 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,433 And so they're talking about blocking off streets, the entire perimeter that borders 36 00:02:14,433 --> 00:02:15,700 the Boston Commons. 37 00:02:15,700 --> 00:02:19,066 So, you won't see cars driving into a crowd. 38 00:02:19,066 --> 00:02:23,733 They're very much aware of what happened in Virginia and very much aware of what happened 39 00:02:23,733 --> 00:02:27,300 in Spain, in Barcelona, the use of cars as weapons. 40 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:32,300 You will also see a huge deployment of state police officers playing a secondary role. 41 00:02:34,266 --> 00:02:37,933 And what you won't see are undercover police officers who will be dispersed throughout 42 00:02:37,933 --> 00:02:42,933 the crowd ready to take away sticks that might be -- were attached to placards, ready to 43 00:02:44,666 --> 00:02:47,866 take away bottles, ready to take away spray cans. 44 00:02:47,866 --> 00:02:52,866 Anything that might be used as a weapon or construed as a weapon will be taken away by 45 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:55,033 police officers. 46 00:02:55,033 --> 00:02:57,133 They're also working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. 47 00:02:57,133 --> 00:03:01,866 They have been looking at the organization, again, that's sponsoring this, a coalition 48 00:03:03,866 --> 00:03:07,933 of actually young people who call themselves libertarian, but whose speakers roster and 49 00:03:09,833 --> 00:03:14,033 some of their rhetoric reflects some of the extreme right-wing events that we have seen 50 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,333 around the country, including in Virginia. 51 00:03:17,333 --> 00:03:20,500 JOHN YANG: Phillip Martin from WGBH in Boston, thanks so much for helping us out understand 52 00:03:21,366 --> 00:03:21,600 what's going to happen tomorrow.