Boston Occupy Encampment Is Now History

Boston Occupy Encampment Is Now History

46 Arrested In Peaceful Protest



By Dell Hill

Another #Occupy protest encampment is history.  

Boston’s “finest” moved in at 5 o’clock this morning and provided a free wake-up call to the defiant group who remained encamped at Dewey Square.



FOX News reported:

Police officers swept through Dewey Square early Saturday, tearing down tents at the Occupy Boston encampment and arresting dozens of protesters, bringing a peaceful end to the 10-week demonstration.

Officers began moving into the encampment at about 5 a.m. to “ensure compliance with the trespassing law,” police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.  The city had set a deadline for midnight Thursday for the protesters to abandon the site but police took no action until early Saturday, making Boston the latest city where officials moved to oust protesters demonstrating against what they call corporate greed and economic injustice.

As the officers moved in, about two dozen demonstrators linked arms and sat down in nonviolent protest and police soon began arresting them, according to the Boston Globe.

The protesters were “very accommodating” to the officers, Driscoll said.  Forty-six people were arrested on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct, police said.  No injuries were reported.

According to the New York Times:

By 8 a.m. Saturday, the city’s cleanup of Dewey Square was in full force, with workers using leaf blowers and moving garbage into dump trucks.  Others had begun power-washing posters off of the building they had adorned in the square.

Across the street, a couple of dozen protesters chalked messages, like “Occupy Boston Lives,” on the pavement outside of South Station, using supplies from the group’s “mobile sign unit.” The supplies, one housed in a sign-making tent, were now inside a child’s wooden wagon.

One of the protesters, Steve O’Brien, a homeless 18-year-old, said he did not know where he would go now.

“I’m hoping it will be reinstated, that we go back in and set it up again,” Mr. O’Brien said.  He said he had wanted to be arrested, but that the police told him he was too young.

The group scheduled a general assembly for Saturday night on the Boston Common to discuss its next move.

“We have a lot of options,” said Robin Jacks, 31, who, along with one other, helped begin the Boston occupation.  Ms. Jacks has expressed interest in transitioning, as other groups around the country have done, from a public occupation to action like occupying foreclosed homes.

“This is not over. There’s no way that we’re going to dispense and not be us anymore.”

Dell’s Bottom Line:  You’ll notice that the protesters “were very accommodating” to the Boston Police officers - an extremely wise move on their part because the Boston PD has a long-running reputation for take absolutely no “guff” from anyone.  

There are some extremely volatile sections of Boston that require far more muscle than brains when it comes to law enforcement and the Boston cops are quite famous for NOT backing down from a good fight.  

A good friend of mine who has lived and worked in Boston for over 50 years once told me “You challenge a Boston cop and two things are going to happen; you’re going to the emergency room and then you’re going to jail”.  Thankfully, there was none of that foolishness this time around, but the ill-conceived idea of “occupying foreclosed homes” is not the brightest idea I’ve heard.  

Those properties are owned by the lending institutions that issued the mortgages and entering them would constitute a far more serious criminal offense - a felony in most states.