A leader of a neo-Nazi group was arrested outside of a Drag Queen Story Hour in Boston
- About 20 members of a neo-Nazi group showed up to protest outside of a Drag Queen Story Hour in Boston.
- Drag Queen Story Hours have been targeted by figures on the far-right as part of its campaign against LGBTQ people.
A leader of a neo-Nazi group and two others were arrested and charged Saturday during a protest and counter demonstration at a Drag Queen Story Hour event for children in Boston.
About 20 men showed up at the story hour event wearing black face coverings, according to a report from MassLive. The masked men held a banner that read "Pedo scum off our streets," the report said. The demonstrators shouted anti-LGBTQ phrases and taunted counter protesters across the street, Boston public radio station WGBH reported.
A video of the protest posted to Twitter by a reporter for local news station NBC10 Boston showed the masked demonstrators chanting "off our streets." Three people were arrested in total, including Chris Hood, the 23-year-old leader of the local chapter of the Nationalist Social Club, or NSC 131, a neo-Nazi organization with "small, autonomous regional chapters in the United States and abroad," according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The other two people who were arrested were counterprotesters. The charges against the counterproters were dropped on Monday, according to NBC Boston. Hood, who is charged with affray, was arraigned on Monday, according to the report.
NSC 131 is an antisemitic organization is comprised of an "underground network of white men who are willing to fight against their perceived enemies through localized direct actions," according to the ADL. Members believe they're at war with a "Jewish-controlled" system that is working to eliminate the white race.
It was the second demonstration by a white supremacist organization in Boston this month. Members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front marched through the city of Boston on July 2.
"It's no coincidence that these cowardly groups from outside our city continue to target Boston as we showcase how representative leadership, empowered communities, and bold policies can have immediate impact," Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said.
"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," she added.
The incident over the weekend occurred outside a Drag Queen Story Hour event at Loring Greenough House in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. These events, which involve drag queens reading stories to children, have become a target of far-right activists and are a part of the right-wing's disinformation campaign that attempts to cast LGBTQ people as pedophiles and groomers.
Members of the far-right extremist Proud Boys group last month targeted a Drag Queen Story Hour in California and a Pride Storytime event in North Carolina, disrupting the readings and attempting to intimidate those in attendance.
"It's clear that Boston is a way point in the crusade of hate launched five years ago in Charlottesville," said Kevin Kayden, the Suffolk County district attorney, in a statement. "The presence of white supremacists at a Jamaica Plain book reading today, like their downtown Boston march earlier this month, is at once a disgrace and a warning. Society everywhere is targeted by these groups, and society everywhere must reject them."