A former Boston Police lieutenant and Homeland Security official has said that the July 2 white supremacist march held in Boston, Mass., was the result of an “intelligence failure,” according to WGBH.
“I think it's fair to characterize it as an intelligence failure of significant proportions,” Thomas Nolan told the outlet. He said that the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, a program funded by the Department of Homeland Security, did not live up to its responsibilities.
According to an order for a hearing filed Tuesday by Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, approximately 100 white supremacists marched through Boston under a “Patriot Front” banner on July 2. Arroyo said he will make a formal request for a hearing about the BRIC’s “intelligence failure” at a regularly scheduled Boston City Council meeting Wednesday.
Patriot Front is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a white nationalist hate group that broke off from Vanguard America in the aftermath of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, of August 12, 2017.” Vanguard America is a Neo-Nazi group, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Last month, 23-year-old Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, Texas, was arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, after he and other members of the group were found in a U-Haul truck with riot gear and plans to riot through the town as a LGBTQ Pride event was being held.
In Boston, Patriot Front marchers allegedly assaulted a Black activist. City Mayor Michelle Wu said Tuesday during a press conference that the Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights Unit is investigating the incident, according to Boston.com. The outlet also reported that marchers in the city beat a snare drum, that their banner read “Reclaim America,” and that they were wearing white masks.
“When we march, we don’t hide our faces,” said Wu in a tweet. “Your hate is as cowardly as it is disgusting, and it goes against all that Boston stands for.”
Arroyo, who is aiming to become the district attorney of Suffolk County, mentioned other recent Boston hate group marches in his order for a hearing. In January, members of the National Socialist Club 131 protested in front of Brigham & Young Womens Hospital and in March the same group marched under a “Keep Boston Irish” banner.
“These demonstrations represent an appalling uptick of Neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate groups in Boston and across New England, where these groups have traveled multiple jurisdictions without detection by local law enforcement,” Arroyo said.
A video recorded by Boston-area anti-fascist filmmaker Rod Webber showed vehicles of the Patriot Front marchers had license plates from Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania, among other states. Like the group arrested in Idaho, these marchers brought riot gear in a U-Haul van.
Arroyo also questioned why authorities did not appear to be prepared for these demonstrations in his order for a hearing.
According to WGBH, acting Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden – who Arroyo is hoping to unseat – said in a statement said his office is working closely with the Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights Unit to investigate the July 2 white supremacist march.
“The presence of such organized hatred in Boston on Independence Day weekend was repugnant,” Hayden said.
In addition to the July 2 incident in Boston, the Independence Day holiday was marred by tragic mass shootings in the Chicago area.
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