White supremacists rally in Somerville
About two dozen supporters of an Arkansas-based white supremacist organization rallied in the rain yesterday in a Somerville parking lot and prepared to stage a demonstration today outside a Holocaust memorial in downtown Boston, the group's chairman said.
Asked how many members of White Revolution planned to attend the commemoration near Boston's Faneuil Hall, the group's chairman, Billy Roper, said: ''Based on the treatment we've received so far from the local police, if we have more than a couple dozen, that would be a success."
Roper said the group arrived yesterday at the Somerville Public Library but was barred from entering the building by local police.
Roper said he tried to initiate a ''citizen's arrest" on a police commander there, but later decided against the maneuver. Instead, his supporters gathered outside in a parking lot and listened to him make speeches. There were no arrests, Roper said.
Somerville Police Chief Robert R. Bradley said his officers decided to close the library at about noon yesterday rather than allow members of White Revolution access to a meeting room.
''There was no way we could ensure the safety of the patrons in the library," Bradley said. ''For security reasons, we decided just to close the library down. We did give them an alternate location in the parking lot."
Mark P. Horan, spokesman for Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, said the group had reserved a room at the library but under a different name, Immigration Reform Party. ''Once we figured that out, we decided it was best to close the building because there was not enough warning given about the situation," he said.
Today's Holocaust memorial commemorates the 60th anniversary of liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the 10th anniversary of the New England Holocaust Memorial.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who plans to attend, has pledged a large police presence. Organizers are expecting several hundred attendees, including Governor Mitt Romney, Meir Shlomo, consul general of Israel to New England, and Wolfgang Vorwerk, consul general of Germany to New England.
Roper said his members plan to wave banners and chant outside the event. Alan Ronkin, deputy director of The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said he was hoping for an event free of any disruptions.
''We have full faith in law enforcement, particularly in the Boston Police Department," he said, ''that they will do all they can to maintain the safety of everyone and ensure the civil rights of anyone who chooses to express their views, however repugnant they are."
