F-bombs, shouting matches: There's little decorum as Boston debates 2024 Olympics bid

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2015 file photo, Jonathan Cohn, right, of the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, hands out fliers while standing with Claire Blechman, of Somerville, Mass., prior to the first public forum regarding the Boston 2024 Olympic bid in Boston. Hearings debating the pros and cons of the embattled bid have become increasingly bitter, and the gap between opponents and supporters appears to be widening. Meetings have featured profanity and shouting matches, and the issue is rife with online venom. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2015 file photo, shadows of organizers and reporters pass a video display screen prior to a news conference by organizers of Boston's campaign for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Boston. Public hearings debating the pros and cons of the embattled bid have become increasingly bitter, and the gap between opponents and supporters appears to be widening. Meetings have featured profanity and shouting matches, and the issue is rife with online venom. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) (The Associated Press)

BOSTON – Public hearings debating the pros and cons of Boston's embattled bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics have become increasingly bitter, and the gap between opponents and supporters appears to be widening.

Meetings have featured profanity and shouting matches and the issue is rife with online venom.

People in both camps say they're enduring vitriol on a scale some liken to tensions during court-ordered public school desegregation in the 1970s.

Regardless of whether the bid advances, some say the acrimony represents a new low in a city where political disagreement long has been a blood sport.