White Supremacists, Crowd Clash in Boston

Associated Press/May 9, 2005
By Brooke Donald

Boston -- White supremacists clashed with an angry crowd outside Faneuil Hall, where Holocaust survivors and their families were commemorating the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.

Two people were arrested during Sunday's confrontation, officer John Boyle said. Sunday was the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

Inside the historic meeting house, Holocaust survivors, their children and grandchildren lit white candles to commemorate the estimated 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis. Germany's consul-general to New England, Wolfgang Vorwerk, spoke of his country's role.

Outside, 10 to 15 members of the Arkansas-based group White Revolution were escorted by officers to a designated protest area across the street. The officers, many in riot gear, formed a barricade between the protesters and about 100 people who angrily shouted at them to leave Boston.

Two people were charged with disturbing the peace after a scuffle outside the protest area. Police said Shireen Chambers, 36, of Boston, who is white, struck a black man, Jerome Higins, 25, of Everett, and he retaliated by spitting in her face and hitting her with a sign. Boyle said at least one officer was injured while arresting Chambers, who yelled racist epithets as she was dragged away.

Gov. Mitt Romney, who attended the Faneuil Hall event, said he was disgusted by the presence of the supremacists.

"Today of all days, to have white supremacists come here from Arkansas, is most disappointing," he said. "I wish they'd go back home where the came from and bury themselves under the rocks that they crawled out from."