According to occupyboston.com the Boston Police have laid down an ultimatum. From the site:
At approximately 18:00 the Boston Police Department informed Occupy Boston that if they did not clear the site by nightfall, they would be forcibly removed. In response, Occupy Boston has issued a renewed call for any and all people to join the occupation as soon as possible. From the beginning, occupiers have worked tirelessly to maintain a positive working relationship with city officials. Today’s threats by the Boston Police Department represent a sudden shift away from that dialogue. Since making camp on September 30, Occupy Boston has maintained that it will non-violently resist any attempt to end the protest before we have achieved the change we seek.
The Globe is reporting the same… http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrodesk/2011/10/boston-police-warn-protesters-leave-greenway-tonight-moved-out/AS0JWIbXTp9Gn4jZKmfo2J/index.html
Live feed here, if anyone’s up.
Feeling sick to my stomach watching this.
Was a beautiful day; my videohere. The demonstrators backed up when confronted by the cops at the N.Washington St Bridge, and did NOTHING to deserve what’s going down now, at 2 am.
These kids are already cynical as can be about traditional politics. This great Democratic Mayor just managed to confirm all of their–and my–worst suspcions. Great work, sending riot police in at 2 AM.
EVERY campus in MA should stage a walkout tomorrow in support of their peers.
including at least one senior. A hundred or so people were arrested. They trashed the entire camp site, throwing away everything, including medical supplies.
While Wall Street got bailed out, cops are arrested the people who are peacefully assembling for the rights of the rest of us.
There is no excuse for what Menino allowed today. He should immediately resign for this travesty of American freedom. To think this could happen in the birthplace of American Democracy, where Bostonians dressed up as Native Americans and threw the British tea overseas and then kicked their soldiers out of town, is a disgrace. Shame!
Both “Veterans” and “Boston PD” trended world wide — even if Twitter censored the even more frequently-used #OccupyBoston — so at least we know that the whole world is truly watching, no matter how much censorship and corporate-bent media there is going on. The revolution is now.
… it was only the “expansion” site on the Greenway. Confirmation from someone closer to the action would be appreciated.
The problem is that the Dewey Sq location is severely cramped, and the protesters have been asking for some space on the Greenway, even going so far as to make solid promises to avoid the flower beds that are fairly new, treating the park well, etc. Given how well they’ve behaved until now I believe they’d be able to handle it. Menino was an asshole about it, so some people decided to do it anyway, including vets who wanted to stand between the police and the tent protesters.
This is my understanding of it anyway.
Menino is an idiot. He says he sympathizes but that “civil disobedience doesn’t work” on this morning’s WBUR interview. I mean, ARE YOU DUMB??? You just insulted every black civil rights protester who sat at a counter illegally or rode at the front of the bus or sat down where they should not have. You effing moron.
Give them space on the Greenway. The Kennedys would be so disappointed in you.
The posted hours are 7AM to 11PM.
That goes for everyone.
I imagine there are more infractions that regular people would be cited for (distributing food, medicine…) where this group has gotten a pass.
Source: http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/visit/greenway-info/faq/
We make exceptions for rules all the time. Why, just yesterday there were 1000s of jaywalkers (well, jayrunners) who took over downtown Boston. They were running a half marathon. Also, some real jerks essentially shut down parts of the Back Bay to motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic. They were shooting a movie.
It’s not unreasonable to change the rules in the face of specific events, especially if those events are part of good public policy — be it promoting health and exercise, promoting the city through film, or promoting the citizenry’s right to exercise free speech and peaceable assembly.
Everyone should get a permit, otherwise they shouldn’t be allowed to use the public lands.
When the race is being run for exercise it’s hardly a public purpose.
But when people are deliberately giving up the comforts of indoor plumbing and camping out of doors in October for a greater (read: public) purpose then I say no permit is required and the mere asking for said permit is antithetical to the purposes therein. Any denial of such permit would, likewise, be an abrogation of a greater (public) good.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
…there was only one actual arrest. Protesters should have access to any open space, but I do think it’s reasonable to try to keep the streets clear for everyone else.
There was way more than oen arrest.Check out OoenMedia Boston’s photo set.
Good point. WHY is BPD allowing folks to pass out free food? Many of you have seen video the cops in Orlando shutting down the Food Not Bombs tents there–we should no more tolerate the handing out of free food in our city than we should peacable assembly on our oh-so-beloved Greenway. First it’s free food and medicine, then it’s all that obnoxious chanting–next thing you know they’re dumping tea in the harbor and demanding an equitable tax code.
Look, if these groups were tying up traffic on a regular basis, harassing passeres-by, etc., I’d get it. But I was at the bridge yesterday, when several thousand demonstrators confronted what were initially about a dozen cops. Some clowns in the crowd chanting “take the bridge!” Which, thankfully, no one tried to do–the smart people, the cool heads, MATURITY, prevailed. What happened last night was that Menino and cops (who went from being models of civility to what looks from all angles like a police-state police-force) exemplifies the opposite. I saw Commissioner Quinn cited as declaring that “we must have order!” Yeah. We have so much of that throughout the city…
…before I saw this, although what I said WAS what was reported at 11PM, so don’t shoot the messanger. One protester said that they were committed to NOT damaging the plantings along the Greenway.
So take it for what it is, that the police managed to trample some of the precious new flowers, arresting protesters. Whereas working WITH them would have preserved the investment the Greenway Conservancy just made.
So, allowing protesters and working with them = preserving the Greenway quite well. Police moving in = destruction of property, including the Greenway.
This is good PR, Boston PD? Ed, Ed, I am ashamed you came from Lowell.
Reuters
Tensions boiled over in the early hours of Tuesday in downtown Boston, where police arrested about 100 protesters after the Occupy Boston group expanded its footprint and was told by authorities to backtrack.
Protesters said late on Monday that police had given participants an ultimatum to return to their small original encampment by nightfall or be moved along.
Mayor Menino should be ashamed and Residents of the entire State should inform him that this will not be tolerated in Massachusetts. Obviously it time for the Mayor to go if he does not understand the issues involved here and the fact that turning the police loose on peaceful protesters is little more then a replay of the Boston Massacre. Thank god no one was seriously hurt this time. Maybe Dewey square should not be the target but the courtyards of Boston City Hall calling for his resignation. What a disgrace!
They’re taking donations for bail and legal aid:
http://occupyboston.com/2011/10/11/updates-live-blog/