by Neil W. McCabe

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone ordered the Main Branch of the Somerville Public Library closed today, in order to prevent a group from holding a previously approved meeting at the facility to discuss immigration reform.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said the action was taken after it was determined to be an Arkansas-based white supremacist organization, White Revolution.

The mayor made the decision in concert with Acting Police Chief Robert Bradley in the interest of public safety, she said.

City Solicitor John Gannon did not give the mayor a written finding on the legality of the closing of the library, but he was consulted by the mayor and gave his verbal support, she said.

When the group arrived for their meeting scheduled for 2 p.m., they were told that the library was closed. As Somerville Police officers, and tactical law enforcement officers in riot gear from the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, stood by the handful of White Revolutionaires gathered for their meeting outside the library, she said.

Other cities and towns, such as Boston and Lexington, have responded in similiar ways to pre-empt counter protests and rallies that would feed a spiral of violence. The group has come to protest at the Boston Holocaust Memorial.