Over 100 Occupy Boston protesters arrested in massive police crackdown.
At 1:20 am, police moved in with more than 16 police vans along with police cruisers and unmarked vehicles on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Boston. Officers dressed in black and equipped with plastic handcuffs surrounded part of the camp, protesters were given a five minute warning to leave or be arrested. Most protesters remained, linking arms with each other and peacefully resisting. Police moved in and, according to Boston.com, “each protester was individually put on his or her stomach, cable-tied, and dragged off as others tore down tents and arrested and detained people on the fringe of the park.”
Eye witness reports and video have come in showing that police dealt violently with members of Veterans for Peace who had come to support Occupy Boston. Other reports are still coming in regarding other instances of police brutality, but remain unconfirmed.
Some street medics, clearly marked with red crosses, were arrested despite repeated requests for medical attention from some of the protestors. One street medic on the scene who was not arrested said that police refused to call EMTs. There have been no reports of pepper spray being used on protestors.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu63e7QD_5k&w=560&h=315]
Photo: police arresting veterans
Boston.com: Boston police move in on protesters on Greenway, scores arrested
49 Responses to “Mass Arrests of Occupy Boston Protestors”
is there a solidarity demo at the jail in the works? if yes, can that information get posted so that we can mobilize to be there if our people get arrested.
strength and power to all standing together in struggle tonight,
in boston and across the globe
shit is going down http://i.imgur.com/jE5GH.jpg
Any information on how we can help people arrested? Can we help bail people out?
Attention Boston PD…Sacramento, CA can see you…the whole world is watching!
watching!!! yeah, we are watching useless protesters chanting and beating drums and other musical instruments while others are being arrested. Great team work there. Great team work from the police and yet nothing from the protesters. Yes, we are watching! protesters pretending to protest for something… Protesting means nothing if Police don’t fear you. Rioting on the other hand…
does anyone have video of actual beatings? i keep hearing about it but am only seeing typical handcuffing.
Because they don’t exist !! (GASP) You’re being lied to by the protesters!
Such a bunch of drama queens !!! And “PEACEFULL”?? Calling on all to tie up Boston PD’s phone lines – therefore preventing 911 calls from being answered in a timely manner – endangering public safety – is PEACEFULL??
I hope Boston captured all those phone numbers to file charges against the owners! (Ya’ll DO know more than 3 calls in an hour is harrassment – RIGHT?)
I don’t think that calling the phone lines ties up 911. They are separate systems.
Why are all the reports of beatings and attacks only on twitter and this website ???? oh because its not really happening. Keep drinking the cool-aid. Notice the people running it are not standing there ground and getting locked up.
I agree. Someone please post a video of BRUTALITY and compare it with Rodney King, and etc. Because all I see is people over re-acting and making this bigger than what it was. Was anyone pepper sprayed? was anyone physically assaulted by a swinging baton or stick? where are the pictures and videos showing that?!?!
2 more weeks of this BS! Then things will go back to normal in this sheep world of ours.
Can someone post with some strategies for outsiders to support the occupiers? We should call the City of Boston to complain.
We can actually go to the Mayor’s office to complain: http://www.cityofboston.gov/mayor/24/
What else should we do?
I’d like to ask the cops and the mayor whether they think this is really a wise use of police resources. I mean why are they deploying this kind of force (or any force) against peaceful protesters. Have they caught all the murderers, rapists, arsonists, vandals, thieves and child molesters etc?
Just drop your check off at the Mayors office – a few hundred thousand dollars should suffice for the DAMAGE you people have caused!
Don’t you get it? You damaged the hallowed Kennedy memorial grounds !! Once you made mud of THAT – the gloves come off! They may support your “causes” but NOT when you dirty up their memorials!
Nice to hear from the Federal Reserve, Boston Branch. Or are you with one of the Fed shareholders eg Bank of America, Morgan Chase or
Citibank? Maybe you’re just a Neocon, sorry, Republican.
btw I wasn’t there Do you have any hard evidence the protesters damaged the memorial grounds?
Did you know that the ‘public’ does not own that greenway. It’s privately owned public space. It was donated to a trust fund on the basis that private donations would bs used to manage and upkeep the space. So I ask you why has the city of Boston donated over 22 million to the trust fund?
Why don’t the people have a right to be there if we are spending all this money to keep it up?
Nah – I work for a living!!
And I don’t need to show you evidence – it’s all over all your video footage! Grassy areas are now mud, walking on pallets, etc. You CAN’T do that on the Kennedy Greenway – THAT’s where ya’ll stepped over the line but you’re all to “whatever” to GET it. You stomped, and peepee’d on the grounds dedicated to the very family celebrating your “gimme gimme gimme” values!
Honey, if you’re worried about some grass becoming muddy, you should try getting some perspective and maybe some information on what corporations own what utilities and how these people are fighting for us all. This isn’t about “gimme gimme gimme” values.
And I have a job, too.
@ Occupyajob uh Yeah you do need to show us evidence. When you make an accusation against someone you need to back it up. Whatever videos you are talking about don’t show us anything Unless you’re talking about videos I haven’t seen
I’ll ask again: What hard evidence do you have that #Occupy Boston, and not the cops, damaged the planting beds And if the damage is so obvious why hasn’t the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy said anything about it?
What was the point of this and how did it further the causes of the occupy movement? Is the goal really to force the police to attempt to move 100 people without brutality? There is a difference between protesting peacefully and protesting lawfully. It’s the police’s job to enforce the law. You have no right to destroy a recently landscaped park, they told you so, you said in effect “pah, we have the right to destroy whatever we want” and then you sat there and waited to be nightsticked like a bunch of conflict-addicted adrenaline junkies. You called this an “assault” on your web page 2 hours before it actually happened.
Occupy DC meanwhile negotiated with police to extend their permit an additional 4 months. They declined an offer to be arrested, saying that wasn’t the goal of the protest. They have a much better chance of doing something to fix our broken Democracy than you do. I am the 99%, and you don’t represent me.
So even though there is this huge problem our society faces and these people want to do it together you just want to throw out the baby with the bathwater?
Let’s wait and hear the whole story.
Even if there were valuable plants involved, I don’t see how you can say the BPD did not overreact. It’s plants vs. people here.
You don’t yet know whether they tried to negotiate or what kind of negotiation was possible.
If we don’t give these people a chance, we’re really sunk. It’s such a mistake to second guess everything. If you are the 99% then you have an interest in being patient since this really is the only way to get ANY reforms to our system. Electoral politics is NOT WORKING.
“negotiated with police to extend their permit”
The 1st Amendment’s their permit
Free people don’t buy permission (a permit) to exercise their inalienable Right to Free Speech. Nor do they claim any victory in negotiating their master’s (the city) extension of that permission
The permit’s just a form of control. Think about it. Buying permission for your Free Speech doesn’t actually address the problems the protest might cause (eg blockage of traffic, property damage) which the city says necessitate the permit. It just turns a Right into a privilege.
Communication between the city and the protesters is the answer. Not charging people for permission to exercise their inalienable 1st Amendment Right.
You have a right to free speech and you’ve been exercising it in Dewey Square to what I would say has been good effect. You must remember however that although the Greenway is a public venue, it is still private property. Private property that in the case of your northern expansion, has just been landscaped to the tune of over $150,000.00. And whose pocket did that money come out of? That’s right, the 99%. And where is the Greenway Conservancy going to get the money to repair the mudhole at Dewey Square that they are letting you occupy permit-free? You got it.
The stand-up thing for you to have done last night would have been to “decline to be arrested” in the words of the DC contingent, gone back to Dewey and made the point that in the midst of your anger and frustration, you resolve to act within the law and effect change peacefully.
Private property means just what it says. As much as I agree with you about the changes that need to be made to our broken political and financial systems, if you were to come into my backyard without my permission, I’d have you arrested too.
This was explained to you. The police did not swoop in unannounced.
I agree, the reason the corruption feels it is safe is because it hides within the laws. It knows we will do things like this and that they can easily arrest us. It is time to stop trying to get pity. Stay legal! Stay off private property! If you do this, the police won’t arrest you, and people will think “Wow, they’ve been there so long and the police are okay with it, I will join” and if you do get arrested or attacked while doing it legally, you all get off scott free, and the people will say “Holy-Shit! They were there legally! Standing up for me! Who do those police think they are?!”
Right now, you aren’t adding to our support because people think you are idiots for thinking you had the right to sleep on public property. Those in Wall Street can legally be arrested at anytime, I’m sure the NYPD is trying to gather it’s forces.
So be safe, and be legal.
Paul makes many good points here. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Unfortunate. There’s no turning back now
Nice mix of real people on here with the uninformed and the corporate shills…
https://www.wepay.com/x11mtx5
There’s no discussion in any of these news reports of the massive shortage of medical supplies, including critical prescription medications confiscated/possibly destroyed when police disposed of medical tents. Why? Occupyboston logistics desperately needs a laundry list of medical supplies, including large cooking pots, disinfecting alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointments, splints, rubbing alcohol, peroxide, hand warmers, ACE bandages, gauze pads & rolls, medical tape, all sizes of band-aids, salt, epsom salt, water bottles (desperately), lotion, ibuprofen, liquid maalox, vaseline, cough drops, instant cold packs, nitrile gloves, glucose tablets & tubes. That’s from http://twitter.com/#!/OBLogistics .`
on October 11th, 2011 at 6:31 am #
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on October 11th, 2011 at 6:35 am #
[…] Mass Arrests of Occupy Boston Protestors […]
on October 11th, 2011 at 7:06 am #
[…] this morning, Boston Police move in and arrested oer 100 at Occupy Boston’s second site: At 1:20 am, police moved in with more than 16 police vans […]
I support the occupy Boston movement & the occupy movement broadly. However, I do have some serious problems with what transpired last night.
I made my way down to the park for the GA to hear out what was going on last night. There were a lot of unanswered questions posed by the group about by what means the decision to occupy the adjacent park was made.. I am suspicious of actions taken to occupy that park because they conspired when most members were away on a mass march. If people are leading a movement by consensus the right thing to do is to never make decisions on behalf of the entire group without consensus. The explanations I heard were ” not everyone was around so we couldn’t, we had to act” but how can a democratic movement reconcile such a decision, that lead to the police vs people show down later and represents not just the people making it but the entire collective. How can such a serious decision be allowed to be a spur of the moment thing, made by a few? I’m sorry that is not what direct democracy looks like. Period.
I’m not saying there is some conspiracy inside the group or even making a judgment whether the adjacent park should have been occupied but I think if people are to organize around ideals, around democracy, we can’t just forget it whenever we want.
I had some friends arrested last night and need to know what their status is. Is there a way to find out which precinct they’ve been taken to and whether or not they’ve been bailed out?
email legalq.occupyboston@gmail.com
Early on this doesn’t look good for the Boston authorities. I don’t think it’s wise there to have even a hint of mistreating veterans. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot more start showing up angry. Landscape is easy to fix. Messing with veterans no matter what they think is a different kettle of fish I wouldn’t want to be around….
In case you didn’t know, a little FYI… about 50% Boston police are military veterans. and almost 90% State Police are military veterans. So why would you expect law enforcement to have pity on them? They’ve all pretty much fought for their country. Some just stand on different sides now.
May I respectfully suggest that OccupyBoston carry signs on the front line that indicate the police and military are part of the 99% who are going to eventually pay for corporate greed in the form of cuts in their pay, pensions, health benefits, etc.while Wall Street (big financial institutions and large corporations – not small businesses) continue to receive unwarranted huge salaries, bonuses and golden parachutes while remaining unaccountable for their performance.
@ Outside Observer, What they need is a good legal team. Anybody know how to put that together? I’m thinking a group of volunteer lawyers, sympathetic to the cause.
on October 11th, 2011 at 12:46 pm #
[…] the arrests spread across Twitter early Tuesday, several videos emerged that support the claim thatmembers of Veterans for Peace were attacked by the police. LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", […]
Get a haircut you long hairs
Learn to spell! You simple minded thing!
The escalation of tactics by the Police was inevitable – it is in the the interest of the Boston political establishment as in NY – to hide the connection between our rulers, captial finance and the pain and suffering of millions thrown on the slag heap. They must attempt to blame our circumstances on greedy workers,teachers, state worker pensions, the infirmed and elderly. Occupy Boston, Wallstreet, USA exposes the culprits and begins to unify opinion about the need to change the rotten system that produced this mess. Our ruling class is so afraid of even the most disorganised amorphous dissent that it is bound to use as brutal repression as possible to end it. Organizers of Occupy Boston have no choice but to expand their ranks as quickly as possible and as diversly as possible. Working people need a way to tap into the struggle and Unions need to be involved. Organizations of the oppressed African-American, Latino, Women need to be brought in and the Occupy movement needs to establish very broad demands that make sense to the largest number of people possible. The ruling class will try to kill this off as soon as it can. The Occupy movement is one of the few hopeful things that has happened in the last ten years – I hope it succeeds.
So why is there false information being provided on twitter? It looks like there was an announcement made by the police, asking protestors to vacate, and they refused. They were given fore warning prior to the arrests. So whats the big deal? On top of which you can hear people in the background taunting the police by calling them “cowards”. And as far as I can see, protestors passively resisted arrest, which did require a use of force (not excessive). So whats the big deal??
Can anyone post an actual video of BRUTALITY? Because out of the few videos I’ve seen captured by other protestors, you can see resistance to arrest. @Occupy_Boston was all over twitter tweeting that people were being beaten. I’m sorry, but my ancestors in the 50s took real beatings that were unjust.
on October 12th, 2011 at 2:00 am #
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on October 12th, 2011 at 7:32 am #
[…] arrests spread across Twitter early Tuesday, several videos emerged that support the claim that members of Veterans for Peace were attacked by the […]
on October 13th, 2011 at 6:33 am #
[…] arrests spread across Twitter early Tuesday, several videos emerged that support the claim that members of Veterans for Peace were attacked by the […]
on October 14th, 2011 at 3:36 am #
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