[DAWN] Thousands of leftist counter-protesters marched peaceably through downtown Boston, United States on Saturday, chanting anti-Nazi slogans and waving signs condemning white nationalism ahead of a rally being staged by conservative activists a week after a Virginia demonstration turned deadly.
Police Commissioner William Evans said Friday that 500 officers some in uniform, others undercover were deployed to keep the two groups apart.
Boston's Democratic mayor, Marty Walsh, and Massachusetts' Republican governor, Charlie Baker, both warned that holy warrior unrest wouldn't be tolerated in this city famed as the cradle of American liberty.
Organisers of the midday event, billed as a "Free Speech Rally," have publicly distanced themselves from the neo-Nazis, white supremacists and others who fomented violence in Charlottesville on August 12.
A woman was killed at that Unite the Right rally, and scores of others were maimed, when a car plowed into counter-demonstrators.
But opponents feared that white nationalists might show up in Boston anyway, raising the specter of ugly confrontations in the first potentially large and racially charged gathering in a major US city since Charlottesville.
Events are planned around the country, in cities including Atlanta, Dallas and New Orleans.
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