"The protesters represented several groups, including the NorthEastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists and the Progressive Labor Party. Most came from outside Maine."
You have to understand that Hale & his slugs--and the groups he attracts with counterprotests (who are there to protest Hale)--doesn't care one whit about Lewiston's problems. He cares about a few things: Publicity. Recruitment. Chaos.
He has managed to blur the issue and make it about himself and his group. He thrived after his "martyr" Benjamin Smith killed two and wounded nine during his shooting spree over the 4th of July, 1999 shooting spree--he was on numerous cable talk shows (a zit-faced creep in a cheap brown suit), and that's what it was about--getting his loathesome message out. He's done wherever he goes.