Page 26 - Melissa Wright News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

From barcelona, ben, thank you. melissa: after counter-protestors poured into the streets making their voices heard against the so-called free speech rally held by conservatives. the rally is now over. some counter-protestors are still lingering, that's what you're looking at in the screen. let's bring aqila johnson, reporter of the boston globe. i understand you're standing by in the commons, describe the scene for us. >> i am. at this point it has the field of a festival as it begins to end and kind of dancing and waving signs. it's largely over. most of the crowds are gone. it was more or l...

Melissa: fox news alert for you. massive counterprotests mostly peaceful. now the crowds are dispersing. it began with mile-long. for more reaction on today's events, former nashville police officer and he's host of the beyond the badge podcast. let's start with the events in boston today. what do you think made the difference here that so many people were able to come together express their views, we didn't see violence, it's dispersing, does it come down to the police force? >> well, melissa, thanks for having me. i think it absolutely comes to police presence, officer presence. boston polic...

That in this country people are more concerned when police take action against a suspect than they are when a police officer is killed. if the roles were reversed here, i think we would already be seeing outrage, we would already be seeing protests, hash tags, no one wants to take into account the dangers of policing and how hard the job is. it's the only job in the country where you can leave home and not know if you're going to return home from work. melissa: yeah. it's very true although obviously firefighters put lives on the line, emergency workers with police, i mean, maybe one of the re...

That they had allowed to be there. have you seen any indication, what the reason for that was, did they get to the speakers, so they were done or did they feel intimidated or do you have any thoughts on that because we are seeing conflicting reports online but you're there, so you tell us? >> well, you know, i actually marched the route with the counter-protestors so i didn't get to common after 12:30 and as we made our way we were greeted too with the news that the original rally had ended well before it was supposed to. so i'm a bit out of lost myself as to the exact reason why. melissa: all...

Out about the free speech group, it really became a rallying point. they came to rally not just against the fro-speech group that was in the boston common today but show support for what happened -- to show their solidarity with people in charlottesville against hate and against racism and bigotry. those are the sign that is we saw in the counter-protestors today. melissa, kelly. melissa: thank you so much for that. kelly: steve is live now on the ground in boston, he was following those counter-protestors who marched through the downtown area earlier. steve. >> kelly impressive crowd. they ma...