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Today's Top News
Scores Arrested at Occupy Boston Protest Site
BOSTON - 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.
October 3: A marcher speaks with a police officer as they cross a street alongside morning commuters as the marchers set out from the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square in front of the Federal Reserve building, in Boston. "Civil disobedience will not be tolerated," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the local Fox News affiliate in an interview early Tuesday. (AP)
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.
But it was not until after 1 a.m. ET Tuesday when hundreds of Boston and Transit police officers, some in riot gear, moved in on the group, handcuffing protesters and tearing down tents.
"At 1:30 this morning hundreds of police in full riot gear brutally attacked Occupy Boston," the group said in a news release, adding that authorities "made no distinction between protesters, medics, or legal observers."
Police said no protesters or police were injured in the maneuver.
"Civil disobedience will not be tolerated," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the local Fox News affiliate in an interview early Tuesday.
Monday evening, the Boston Police Department sent a tweet to @Occupy_Boston: "The BPD respects your right to protest peacefully. We ask for your ongoing cooperation."
Protesters' tents have been set up in Dewey Square Park in downtown Boston all month, but on Monday expanded to a larger section of the nearby Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Many linked arms Monday evening in a show of solidarity on their expanded turf.
Boston earlier saw one of its biggest rallies so far in a movement that began in New York last month to protest against perceived Wall Street excesses and other social issues and has spread to cities across the nation. Hundreds of protesters, including many college students, marched in support of Occupy Boston.
Protests across the country have objected to what they see as an unacceptable income gap between rich and poor. They also have complained about the Wall Street bailout in 2008, which they say aided banks while average Americans suffered under high unemployment and job insecurity.
In fliers handed out on site in Boston, and in a press release, the police told protesters: "if asked to leave an area, please do so peacefully."
Police said officers would arrest those knowingly in violation of the law "if necessary." They also warned protesters they would use video cameras to record any disorderly behavior.
In return, protesters urged their followers to call police and the fire department to express support for Occupy Boston and "come down to Dewey Square right now!"
Additional reporting by Adam Hunger; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Jerry Norton)
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108 Comments so far
Show AllWhimpy Rueters " perceived Wall Street excesses" like those Drones in Pakistan that the USA MSM is not exactly sure where or who they are launched by.----------- Glenn Ford " Fascism and Imperialism will no longer be tolerated, Civil Disobediance, the only solution" Occupy USA we are US!
Yeah, that's even weenier than putting "greed" in quotation marks, which I have seen a lot recently. Perceived excesses ... Kind of like perceived wealth or perceived political influence. My guess (or hope?) is that the journalists are trying to report these events straight but that their editors are throwing in these caveats. Anyway, it's laughable. As if greed, inequality, corruption and excess don't exist in reality, it's just the "perceptions" of the protesters. BTW, I wonder if Boston's finest would have responded the same way to a "Tea Party Campout." I seriously doubt it.
Those were VETERANS arrested in the middle of the night in Boston. Vets groups have been reporting for days vets were going to the occupation to protect the citizens from the cops. Is the Mayor a demorat or a repuke? the 1% and all our elected officials all over the country are violating their oath to protect and serve the citizens, not corporate america....now I wonder why this reporter didnt tell the truth about the vets arrests...see the video at the DailyBail...or go to: www.occupy-delaware.com....yes we will occupy the corporate state in a few days...come and help, because we know the corporate whores in this state will do anything to keep us from protesting...
"In return, protesters urged their followers to call police and the fire department to express support for Occupy Boston and "come down to Dewey Square right now!"
Now here is a good response.
Could have used a guy like Menino in 1773 to knock down the riff raff then. ....What a tool!!
Actually, I think he was mayor back in 1773.
Menino is a populist and a popular mayor and has served at his best. I am sure he is a very nice man. I believe he is sympathetic and in agreement with the protesters. There is no doubt GREAT pressure being applied onto him.
Civil disobedience is fine and good, except that when peaceful civilly obedient demonstrations are working (so far) to get a message across and the message and the support for it are broadening, it seems that sticking to what's working is a good plan. It shows that it's police brutality that is unjustified. And, I think it's possible that a side army could show up to make the peaceful demonstrators look violent or like the troublemakers. Don't we want public sympathy and unity? My point is that civil disobedience should be Plan B.
Why of course! We should just stay in our fenced protest pens and use our inside voices in politeness and civility. It works so well to change things. I'm surprised the evil protesters aren't thinking that way. Civil disobedience is a right and a necessity in a democratic society! It is not an aberration or something to be discouraged!
"Why of course! We should just stay in our fenced protest pens" -- Why? just walk away and carry on.
"and use our inside voices in politeness and civility" -- your sarcastic words, N/A
"It works so well to change things." It IS working, so far.
"I'm surprised the evil protesters aren't thinking that way." It looks like they are intentionally not thinking the way you do, or at least that was the intent of the ones who started peacefully.
"Civil disobedience is a right and a necessity in a democratic society!" "Disobedience" connotes authoritarian parent/child terms of engagement, in your case the protestor child vs. the Wall St. parents. Why regress to such terms? Instead of "civil disobedience" why not just "peacefully enforce one's constitutional rights" of assembly for government redress.
"It is not an aberration or something to be discouraged!" At the beginning of my post I said it's well and good, should it become necessary when the first step has failed. Geez!
Why would you want to promote violence on anyone's part from the outset?
By the way folks, I DO think there was a time when there should have been WIDESPREAD civil disobedience. But that time was when our nation responded to 9/ll with the Patriot Act and invasions against innocent people in their countries. SOME economic karma is surely due to all of us who did not find our way to prevent these atrocities. That said, I wish the current protests did focus up front regarding our violent militarism first and our personal financial woes second.
Sometimes I think people want to invite the parent/child meme so they never have to become responsible for anything, just blame their parents.
well said
"By the way folks, I DO think there was a time when there should have been WIDESPREAD civil disobedience. But that time was when our nation responded to 9/ll with the Patriot Act and invasions against innocent people in their countries."
That is continuous and ongoing. Nothing has changed but your acceptance of the status quo, and new countries are still being invaded and puppets put in place.
The economics of war are the cause, means and rewards for those who organise it. The focus of the protest is exactly right.
Exactly.
And we should stay in our veal pens because Menino is surely a very nice man!
"and has served at his best"
This might well be "his best", that's what all should be afraid of. Why do I have the feeling that if he had an R after his name you wouldn't coddle him so?
R or D...What the hell difference does it make ???
Who are the lawless among us, really?
Is it citizens across the nation fighting back against corporate/fascism?
Or is it police who brutalize citizens for the benefit of the elite?
Is it corrupted government and legislators bought by elites or is it the
50 million suffering without health care?
Or the 66 million Americans now living in poverty who are lawless?
Or 3,000 every day who are losing their homes?
What we do know about the other side of the coin of this police brutality
is the personal toll it takes on their private lives. In serving the elite by
bringing down violence on citizens, what have they lost -- their own humanity?
Yes, the nasty karma of fascist amerika grows with every beating, with every atrocity the empire and its puppets carry out against the Worlds' people ! The payback against the oppressors and the lackeys that carry out their brutal police state tactics is just beginning !
To paraphrase the great Martin Luther King, the greatest purveyor of lawlessness in the world right now is my own government.
To quote Tupac Shakur:
If you investigate you'll find out where it's comin from
Look through our history, America's the violent one
Unlock my brain, break the chains of your misery
This time the payback for evil sh*t you did to me
They call me militant, racist cause I will resist
You wanna censor somethin, motherfuker censor this!
My words are weapons, and I'm steppin to the sirens
Wakin up the masses, but you, claim that I'm violent
What seems to be happening is that Liberty Sq. and Dewey Sq. are running out of space - a terrific thing. The R. F. Kennedy Greenway had, supposedly, $150,000 worth of plantings that could get damaged. Where else can the people go? Sleep in cars parked nearby? Tents on the sidewalk?
This is the beginning of a long war but we can't give up. I will be back in DC in a few days to show my support. Ive been working night shift this week. Keep up the Protest.
Posted by gnken1
Oct 11 2011 - 10:19am.
This is the beginning of a long war but we can't give up. I will be back in DC in a few days to show my support. Ive been working night shift this week. Keep up the Protest.
~♦~ ~♦~ ~♦~
picked up a great line from a novel i'm reading. one defender of a city under siege asks another, "what sort of enemy do we face?"
"the worst kind, insane!"
Peace, not war!
Interesting that Menino several times expresses agreement with the citizens' messages. This means he's waiting to see which way things go, and isn't at all sure that the Occupy! people will be shut down. Good sign.
I can tell you it took years in the 60's and 70's to get government officials to admit we had something good to say. Keep it up!
This is just the beginning, and I believe it's an auspicious beginning towards the people's primary goal: a better world where We, the People, make the decisions that affect our lives.
The 60's and 70's truely were a Revolution which failed due to the assinations of it's most prominent leaders. Now is the Revolution of the Amoeba which will consume everything in its path and will multiply tangentialy without any heads.
"Interesting that Menino several times expresses agreement with the citizens' messages. This means he's waiting to see which way things go, and isn't at all sure that the Occupy! people will be shut down."
A righteous storm blows the weathervane right off the roof. :-)
Amendment I
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.
mayor, may we suggest perhaps a remedial reading class????? you appear to have problems in comprehension.
AF 11:32 Please present at least a small shred of evidence to justify your statement.
post removed
This is the meme as presented by several clearly authoritarian trolls, who don't want Citizens United overthrown as "freedoms"=money in their twisted minds. The easiest way to defeat such memes is to turn them around and say in this case that OWS is fighting to keep what few freedoms we still possess and enforcement of already existing rules--enforcement that if done would have prevented the economic meltdown causing the current suffering and longneeded political upheavel. So yes, OWS is against the status quo because that is what oppresses us as that is its way.
Make a list: officials of the public and PRIVATE sectors to be placed under citizens' arrest, and tried for breaking the law & committing crimes against the citizenry; police, mayors, governors, congress reps, senators, presidents, and ESPECIALLY those imperial financiers, and their "racketeering" co-conspirators, in their wallstreet towers. If found guilty, all to be exiled to the cayman islands (main scene of the financial crimes) for life, not eligible for parole, nor for communication with the outside world.
Cayman Islands? Too balmy. Try Baffin Island.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - to which the US has subscribed - contain similar provisions, in stronger language I would say.
compliancecampaign.wordpress.com
I was going to make this same point. We have the right to protest, to assemble and no laws can be made to abridge that right. What they are trying to do is stifle the dissent, make it illegal to protest. How much more unconstitutional can the government be?
Here's a message for the mayor...good luck getting re-elected by the 99% you don't support. Tool. Ya, like a toilet plunger.
Ve Vant to kip eir homlaand sicuriti undeer goot kontrol fur dee fuhrer!
I was among the marchers in Kansas City this past weekend and had spent Saturday at the campsite on 1 Memorial Dr., across the street from the Federal Reserve complex. It was a peaceful march and received much support from traffic along Broadway, a major street running through the Westport area to the Plaza where the march turned around and spent time lining the streets and basically being seen publicly as much as possible. There were a few wearing "Anonymous" masks and other disguises somewhat of a halloween variety, and they seemed to be the ones out in the street blocking traffic and in unfortunate ways intimidating those that we need to really get this movement truly into the 99%. I believe there are times that call for civil disobedience, but not early on when warm bodies and like minds are needed for credibility. I saw elderly people in cars boxed in by masked protesters and there was fear on their faces. It won't be tolerated in the future by me if I see it, and we REALLY don't need fighting among ourselves. Peace and Love
JTD 10:59, you are correct in that all are our potential allies and all need to be coopted under our "Big Umbrella" except the bloated 1% ( and even some of them will welcome us).
But Civil Disobediance need not intimidate anyone except the corrupt in Power. We especially need to absorb the state security apparatus. But Civil Disobediance and Education are our bread and butter. Abandoning Civil Disobediance is tantamount to Surrender.
I agree with johntwodogs here and not with Glenn. See my post above.
How long did it take those first Protesters at Tehir Square or in Tunisia or in Yemen and Bahrain to "run out of space" ?
Those in power in the USA can not see their own hypocrisy.
The English Empire to Ghandi/the Indian independence movement: "We will not tolerate Civil Disobedience."
didn't civil disobedience start in the bosdton area, aka henry david thoreau? seems the mayor need a history lesson, as well as a reading lesson.
Also, the Boston Tea Party, the real one. Love everyone who waxes eloquent over a plasticized version of MLK once a year, but have no idea what he really did.
Have any of you read the novel "April Morning" by Howard Fast? It would actually make you sad that the revolution was so bloody, and make you sorry for the teenage skinny impoverished British conscripts force-marched by their stupid generals through Lexington and Concord to their violent deaths.
Just saying, how did our first bloody revolution for that "no taxation without representation" thingy work out?
The US purportedly began for enlightenment and peace but so far has been a bloody aggressor against people's rights at many turns. The second revolution should be one for peace.
The US didn't even begin with an "enlightenment and peace" agenda. It was just a bunch of plutocrats, largely slaveowning plutocrats, who were tired of paying the Crown for their own defense. Their goal was to establish their own little country club in which only their fellow plutocrats had any say in governing.
So they arrest them at 1:30am when the news cameras are in bed and it's too dark to take cell phone videos. Got it.
Yes, got it!
"Civil disobedience will not be tolerated," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the local Fox News affiliate in an interview early Tuesday. Monday evening, the Boston Police Department sent a tweet to Occupy_Boston: "The BPD respects your right to protest peacefully. We ask for your ongoing cooperation."
Either the mayor or the BPD is being honest here, but not both. Care to guess which one?
The marvels of doublespeak.
Either way, it's like pouring gasoline on a fire. Well done, Mayor. Really thought that one through I'm sure.