Law enforcement officials at the local, county, and federal level are investigating an extremist group that made an appearance in Boston during the July 4 weekend.
At a press conference outside Boston Police headquarters in Roxbury on Tuesday, elected leaders and law enforcement officials condemned the white nationalist group known as the Patriot Front whose members, wearing matching clothes, white face coverings and hats, marched through downtown Boston on Saturday (July 2) and allegedly assaulted a Black man who was identified in media reports as the activist Charles Murrell.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Police Superintendent-in-chief Greg Long, US Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins, and Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden joined the FBI and several city councillors at the press event.
Wu and Rollins said the members of the hate group involved in the assault on Murrell must be prosecuted and the mayor urged residents to pass along to law enforcement information if they see something on social media.
Added Rollins: “We take these threats and this behavior seriously.”
A Boston Police Department spokesperson on Tuesday said the department did not have a specific estimate on the number who joined the march or its time and place. Patriot Front did not receive a permit, which Officer Andre Watson said is “not unique to the group.”
Rollins noted there have been several instances of hate group activity this year, including when two dozen individuals were outside Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and when white supremacists appeared at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston.
Separately, in Dorchester, two teenagers were allegedly caught painting a swastika on a basketball court in Garvey Park in April. They were released to their parents.
