Police make their move on Occupy Boston
By adamg - 12/10/11 - 9:26 am
Arrest at Occupy Boston this morning. Photo by Mystery Pill.
Boston Police busted up the Dewey Square encampment early this morning, arresting more than 40 protesters. Chris Faraone at the Phoenix livetweeted it all; the Globe has more. Faraone has more. Scott Eisen posted photos.
Ed Davis watches as police remove tents. Photo by Mystery Pill.
Photos copyright Mystery Pill. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
Comments
Damn helicopters
I knew it was happening at 5:30 this morning because I could here the helicopters. They were still going at 8:30 long after the protesters were carried off.
Oh, well!
Half of the people displaced after the raids will just end up back in and around South Station,where they can go back to fleecing commuters and tourists. You know, the way they fleeced the ones who were actually trying to say something.
Restoring the Greenway
Occupy Boston Restore the Greenway fund.
Cool
Glad to see Boston residents take care of their median strips.
Raid media policy
Officer James Kenneally, one of BPD's media-relations people, talks to the media before the raid:
In practical terms, what that meant, Bianca Vazquez Toness tweeted:
Not true, editor at WBZ says
Andrea Courtois at Channel 4 responds:
now why do you want to let
now why do you want to let the facts get in the way of a good story
Raw feed from the arrests
WBZ has posted 13 minutes of unedited video from when the arrests took place. It's the "pool video that all TV stations got when BPD limited them to just one camera at the scene.
Transit Police didn't want to be left out
Bianca Vazquez Toness reports that after the raids, Transit Police marched about 25 Occupiers out of South Station because "they had no train tickets. It's 'private property.' "
Reasons to be in South Station without train tickets
It's a public food court, as well as containing a number of other businesses that you can patronize without having any intent to ride a train.
I don't know if the annual Christmas model train display is up yet, but that's another reason to visit the station without buying a train ticket.
At 5:00, 6:00, 7 0'clock on a
At 5:00, 6:00, 7 0'clock on a Saturday morning, I'm not sure how many food court businesses are open. If I recall, the first commuter trains come in around 8:00 am on Saturday.
I can't imagine that having dozens of dazed, angry occupiers eager to break into chanting, such as they were doing around 7:30 according to the live stream outside, would be very conducive to South Station businesses.
It's time that the occupiers realize that going into the 11th or 12th week of there protest isn't helping there cause (as just as it is).
So
Transit police are private security now? Otherwise I'd like to know why they're standing sentry over "private property".
ITRW South Station is public property. It's owned and operated by the MBTA which is a public state agency.
If it's open, it's open to the public as long as they're not causing a unlawful disturbance.
Turns out, you can have
Turns out, you can have police on private property. Besides the obvious fact that one of the main jobs of police is to protect private property (like your house, for instance), you also have entities like Boston University Police, Harvard Police, Cambridge Health Alliance Police, Beth-Israel Police, CSX Railways Police, etc, etc, none of which are government entities, and all of which exist to provide law and order on private property.
High 5 to BPD
^5
Transcript of police press conference
Open Media Boston provides the transcription.