BOSTON — Mayor Martin J. Walsh is urging the public to avoid Boston Common on Saturday, where a controversial midday free speech rally will be held that is expected to draw massive amounts of counter-protesters.
Saturday's rally is slated to begin at 12 p.m., following a week's worth of concern over the potential for violence after a rally led last Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, that was held primarily by white supremacists and white nationalists devolved into mayhem after the groups clashed with counter-protesters.
A national poll conducted immediately following last weekend's events in Charlottesville by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, in conjunction with National Public Radio, shows that a healthy majority of American adults still oppose the removal of statues and monuments honoring Confederate leaders.
According to the poll, which surveyed 1,125 adults 18 years of age and older, 62 percent of respondents supported the statues "remaining as a historic symbol" while 27 percent agreed that they should be "removed because they are offensive to some people."
