. >> reporter: today we met the surprising figure at the center of this storm, college senior john medlarhat we have planned is that we're going to have what we call a free speech rally. >> reporter: he says he does not want nazis or the kkk at the event. he says plans for saturday's event were under way long before this past weekend's events in virginia. >> so you're saying this is not a rally to talk about white nationalist, nazi, racist stuff, it's about talking about the first amendment. >> correct. >> so none of that stuff is going to be discussed? >> no. that is not our plan. >> reporter: but opponents who are organizing their own rallies say the purpose is far more insidious. >> what we saw in charlottesville was it was a horrible tragedy that could have been avoided. and that's exactly what we're trying to avoid here in boston. >> they might not have swastikas. might not sieg heil. but they still want jews to leave the country. they want muslims to leave the country. they want a pure white race in the united states. >> reporter: and they look at the incidents in charlottesville no

. >> reporter: john medlar does concede that a previous event just this past may organized by his groupeatured mostly far right speakers and that his original line-up for this saturday's event was very similar. >> the history of these people who were on your original speakers list, they're accused of saying anti-semitic, racist, misogynist, hateful things. why would you want to give them a platform under any circumstance not wiwithstanding your robust professed belief in the first amendment? >> well, i've been accused of apparently running some kind of a kkk rally. so i don't put much stock immediately in what people say about other people. i prefer to actually listen to them. >> we all have very strong messages that we hope we can all convey peacefully through our right to assemble. >> reporter: the counterprotesters making sure their voices will be heard loudly and clearly. >> there is some level of risk that there may be people who do not have the same sense of peace, the same sense of allowing both sides to express their views, even if they don't agree. we will outweigh those sentim

. >> reporter: john medlar, the event organizers tells our dan harris this is not to address white nationalistirst amendment and admits, however, there may be troublemakers in the crowd. >> what we want to try to do is get people talking to each other again instead of just fighting in the streets like what we saw in charlottesville. what happened there was absolutely terrible. >> reporter: this comes exactly one week after clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters in charlottesville, virginia. 32-year-old heather heyer was killed when a car rammed into a crowd of demonstrators. >> no tolerance out there. robin roberts any suspicion or act of violence we're shutting it down. >> move, move. >> reporter: at a separate rally friday morning in durham, north carolina, demonstrators showing up after hearing rumors of white supremacists holding their own march. [ chanting ] >> organizers of the free speech rally say they don't want their event to be hijacked by white supremacists, but this morning boston police are continuing to get ready for groups with very different messages. dan, pa