Posted on 10/11/2011 4:23:28 AM PDT by AU72
Defiant Occupy Boston protesters were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly and being in a public park after hours in a massive, early morning crackdown at the protest group’s second tent city on the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
“It’s important that we gain control and make sure the rules are followed, “ said Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, who was on site during the police action.
The protesters tents and personal belongings were also tossed into the trash during the sweep that kicked off at about 1:30 a.m. and included about 100 arrests.
The arrests and site eradication came after as many as 700 police officers descended to the Atlantic Avenue compound, which a small faction of protesters had taken over yesterday, while Boston police were busy keeping thousands more protesters off the Charlestown Bridge.
Davis acknowledged that the arrests marked a shift in the once harmonious relations between the group and the police.
“The group that was here for the first ten days was working very closely with us,” Davis said, “but they warned us yesterday morning that a new group, the anarchists, wanted to take control.”
By nightfall, at least 40 tents had been pitched on this second site, which is just north of the group’s original occupation site.
Boston police and Mayor Thomas M. Menino asked the leaderless group, which is rallying for a more equitable tax structure in the U.S., to leave that second site by midnight.
Police said the park’s patrons had just spent $150,000 to spruce it up.
Protesters refused to move.
As midnight came and went, the 300 occupied stayed there, chanting, singing and delighting in their staying power.
“Mayor Menino told us to leave by midnight,” one of the occupiers shouted as the rest of the group cheered. “It’s 1 a.m, and we’re still here.”
A wave of police arrived on site just after 1:30 a.m.
Officer from the Boston police, the state police, the transit police and the Suffolk County sheriff’s office arrived on foot, by motorcycle, in prisoner transport wagons, and on bikes.
Police then surrounded the second campsite, told protesters the park was closed to the public at 11 p.m., and asked them to leave.
When the protesters stayed, police began pulling them, one by one, from the crowd.
“They just ripped the group open, and went for our tents,” said Nicholas Hassell, a 21-year-old grill cook from Franklin. “They shouldn’t be doing this. We have the right to exercise our freedom of speech.”
Protester Anasstassia Baichorova, 27, and from Cambridge, also criticized police.
“It’s unacceptable,” said Baichorova, as her eyes scanned the crowd for her partner, who she thinks was arrested. “We have the freedom of assembly.”
Provocation and pitting the police against the ‘people’.
A way to measure public reaction.
good it is time for other mayors to do the same.
Our tax money goes to these parks, the police overtime and for these idiots to think they can just ditch tenets and live there is pathetic and just shows how stupid these loons are.
Mumbles didn’t move on the mothership. FWIW, I think this was just a PR stunt to make him look good to 57%ers.
“It’s 1 a.m, and we’re still here.”
“It’s 2 a.m, and we’re not.”
Not surprised. This could be a preview of how the other cities will end, with the protesters being told to LEAVE by the cities that the protests take place OR the winter weather WILL force a leave.
.....53%ers....AKA the folks who work to pay for the folks on the dole.
So much for determined and resistive “protesters”. Toughen up and resist, you wimps.
IF they had just continued destroying property in downtown,
breaking windows, defiling commercial buildings,
then it would have been OK with Obama, the eloquent mayor,
and the DNC.
BUT THEY went against the Rose Kennedy Greenway
garden memorial. And THAT was too much
Gonna start to get interesting....
Arresting them for being in the park after hours is a good thing. Tossing their personal belongings seems like an illegal seizure. Unlawfull assembly charges are what tyrants use to quell opposition.
I am copying that turn of phrase in my notebook. That is an instant classic euphemism, could be equally applied to any group engaged in "unlawful assembly," aka occupation.
"Meet Obergruppensturmfuher Schmidt. He is in charge of Site Eradication."
(The people we merely arrest. Or eject. Or deport. Or relocate. Or anything else.)
I'm glad to see these occupy creeps get there comeuppance, but this face of the Militarized Riot Police is not comforting.
Got to remember that, ANYTHING that honors the Kennedy family, any any way, ranks very high among the folks in Boston.
The quoted comments from the two protesters made me laugh out loud. Literally.
But was there not violence coming from the OWS group up in Boston that brought out the police?
Things are going to get ugly very soon.
This is exactly how it needs to be handled. I’m glad Boston has the cajones to remove them.
If this was a reaction to violence then that should be what was charged.
Cut to well-bundled infobabe, standup with mike, frosty breath, rosy cheeks. "We marvel as these wintertime patriots struggle to stay warm, always keeping watch over the Evil Barons of Wall Street, even through these frigid temperatures and icy rain. No matter what your political beliefs, by now they are true heroes in all of our hearts. Back to you Dan."
That is how the MSM is going to portray the Occupiers, where they stay relatively polite and in-bounds of their permitted spaces.
Checking public reaction.....
Public reaction is A-Ok with this!
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