The leader of a new-Nazi group called “the Nationalist Social Club 131” was arrested outside the Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain where a drag queen story hour was to take place on Saturday. The group’s leader had led some 20 masked men to assemble there before the story hour, the Boston Globe reported yesterday.
In a statement following the incident, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu wrote, “We are prepared and will not be intimidated in our work to make Boston a city for everyone. We remain ready for citywide deployment of extra public safety resources with a zero tolerance approach to any groups looking to intimidate or harass residents in our city.”
Reports the Globe:
Christopher R. Hood Jr., 23, of Pepperell, was charged with affray and disturbing the peace, according to Sergeant Detective John Boyle, a police spokesman. Hood leads the Nationalist Social Club 131 or NSC-131, which was established in 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center have classified NSC-131 as a neo-Nazi group.
The presence of Hood and his followers outside the Loring Greenough House marked the second time this month that a sizable group of extremists has staged public demonstrations in Boston. On July 2, about 100 members of Patriot Front marched through the city’s downtown, surprising area law enforcement who said they had no advance warning. …
The masked demonstrators wore clothing bearing the NSC-131 logo and chanted, “NSC-131,″ according to photographs from the scene and a witness. They displayed a banner that read, “PEDO SCUM OFF OUR STREETS.” …
Patrick Burr, a drag performer who appeared at the Loring Greenough House as Patty Bourrée, said he began hearing chanting outside the house while he was upstairs changing out of his costume. A representative from the venue drove him away from the property without attracting attention from the demonstrators, he said.
But when he got home, Burr said, he realized he left his ukulele at the mansion and returned to retrieve it. Counter-demonstrators had assembled by the time he got back, he said.
“I was so happy to see that,” Burr said. “I think these ‘keep the pedos off our street’ people think they are speaking for a silent majority, but they are not. You have to show up, and you have to speak up to show that they are not speaking for you.”
Read the complete Boston Globe report here.
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