Dozens of people came together to support local police Sunday in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
“That’s why we are here right now, showing our support and letting them know we have their backs,” Mansfield resident Mike MacDougall said.
“We’re very fortunate to have them and we want them to continue their good work,” said Lorraine Tavares, another local resident.
The “Back the Blue” demonstrators were met by dozens of counter-protesters supporting the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
“I’m out here because I don’t stand for fascists coming into my neighborhood and backing an authoritarian movement,” said Noah Keniston, who showed up with other counter-protesters.
The Back the Blue demonstrators say they’re not necessarily against the Black Lives Matter movement, but they are against the violence they’ve seen toward police at some BLM rallies.
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“It’s not fair to them, they didn’t do anything wrong, a couple bad cops don’t speak for everyone,” MacDougall said.
There were passionate messages from both sides of the street. And while the groups were only a short distance apart, they’re separated by a massive divide.
“All lives matter and we need our police, black, blue, white, any color, any race, we all matter,” Tavares said.
“I understand the term ‘all lives matter,’ it makes sense, all lives do matter, but until Black lives matter, all lives can’t matter,” said a counter-protester who didn’t want to give her name.
All of the demonstrators in Mansfield remained peaceful Sunday. Some even told NBC10 Boston they were looking forward to having an open and honest conversation with people on the other side.
