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Walsh says Olympics opposition coming from ‘10 people’ on Twitter

On Monday morning, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he thinks most of the opposition to Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid is coming from “about 10 people” on Twitter.

Within a few minutes, Twitter showed otherwise.

Walsh made the comment about what he deemed a small group of protesters being the main source of opposition to the games after being asked whether he underestimated peoples’ resistance to the troubled Olympics bid.

“The opposition for the most part is about 10 people on Twitter and a couple people out there who are constantly beating the drumbeat,” Walsh said, largely dismissing sagging poll results.

Many on the platform didn’t take kindly to Walsh’s statement, and the hashtag #10peopleontwitter quickly erupted into a flurry of activity. Many more than 10 people took part.

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Here’s a sampling of some of the tweets on the subject, which was trending locally.

The mayor spoke at a last-minute press conference, in which he announced that he would not commit to putting taxpayer money at risk for the bid. Walsh has been facing increased pressure from the US Olympic Committee to sign a host-city contract soon.

Online opposition has been a key part of the discussion over the 2024 Olympics.

Last week, a top US Olympics Committee official deleted his Twitter account following a back-and-forth with Boston residents opposed to the Summer Games.

A Twitter account linked to Patrick Sandusky, the USOC’s chief communications officer, went dark last Friday afternoon.

One day prior, during a live debate about Boston’s bid to host the games, Sandusky had engaged in a Twitter feud with members of the “No Boston 2024” movement.

Sandusky was under fire for comments he made during the debate, when he accused No Boston Olympics co-chairman Chris Dempsey several times of presenting inaccurate information.

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It wasn’t clear why he deleted his account.


Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.