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Another protest shuts intersections; at least 23 arrested

Protest at Park Street

A Black Lives Matter protest that started on the Common wended its way around downtown Boston this afternoon.

State Police report making 23 arrests: 22 for disorderly conduct and 1 for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest - several at the I-93 ramps by Nashua Street. Boston Police report no arrests.

Boston Police also report one protester handed white carnations to its officers, along with a note reading "We don't hate you."

Said Superintendent Robert Merner, who gladly accepted and proudly wore the flower: "It meant a lot. It really did. We respect the people out here more than they know. We respect their right to gather and voice their opinions. Obviously, we’re here to make sure they do it in a safe, respectful and responsible manner. But - we don't dislike anybody and it was nice to see that the feelings are mutual."

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Comments

If the protesters were prolifers what would happen?

1) Probably they would all be arrested. They get arrested even passing out pamphlets on a public sidewalk.

2) The legislature would take the matter up with much urgency and spend effort to circumvent the first amendment to protect women that kill their children from hearing bad thoughts. No respecting the right of protesters to close down intersections. Not even close.
http://www.governing.com/news/headlines/Massachusetts-Passes-New-Abortio...

3) There would be very few college students because they are mostly vacuous individuals unconcerned about real problems and oblivious to actual solutions.
http://www.mafamily.org/crime/

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Prolifers arrested? Please. Anyone who pulls the correct permits and notifies the right bureaus will not be arrested for a peaceful protest in Boston so long as they do not go off plan. And last year, we were treated to photos all over twitter one morning of BPD cops delivering coffee and donuts to prolife demonstrators on Comm Ave, notably Bill Cotter, chief local apologist for anti-woman violence. So go cry your crocodile tears elsewhere.

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...does it say anything about permits to protest and staying "on plan"? Give it a read some time.

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... does not prevent reasonable and unburdensome measures to protect public safety, taken so that people may freely exercise their right to free speech. Read it yourself.

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The part in question here is "freedom of assembly" and "petition government for redress".

The whole permit thing has a very sketchy history.

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Permitting has been abused in some cities, absolutely.

But having worked with organizations that, in the course of holding public protests/rallies, became targets of violence (like Act Up and NARAL), I can vouch for the fact that it is better to have a parade path and rally spot planned ahead of time. Planning in conjunction with city hall helps to protect the people protesting, allow the protestors enough time to speak, making arrangements for ambulances and firetrucks to be routed around streets being blocked, and minimize trespassing on private land. Oh, and allows multiple rallies to happen in a city on the same day.

I have to give props to Washington DC for being particularly good at handling this (no surprise)-- twice I've been at marches where unexpectedly large groups showed up and the path had to be changed at the last minute. Once, at a pro-choice rally in the late 80s, the planned march route filled completely, with tens of thousands of people still on the Mall. So, halfway through the march, additional routes were added like splinters on the original path. The National Park Service & DC police immediately adapted and not only made sure emergency services were alerted, but since the new paths completely surrounded the anti-abortion counter protest of a few hundred people, were able to keep the groups within shouting-- not punching or golf ball throwing-- distance with no problem.

Whether it's a group as appalling as the Klan or as controversial as Scientologists, everyone still has a right to rally and speak without being endangered. That's a hell of a lot easier with a plan. I was at the rally for a while yesterday. Leaving, walking past corner of Tremont and School where the traffic block was set up, I overheard comments that made me think that if the cops weren't there, there were plenty of a**holes who would have happily driven into the crowd. And the security guys in the building where I work were able to open a side hallway so people at the rally could use our restroom, while those of us working there used a different security entrance-- protestors could use the bathroom but random people couldn't get elsewhere in our occasionally robbed building. I know this was worked out with the cops in the morning because I walked past the cops talking about it with our head of security at 10 AM.

Also, frankly, cops will allow behavior in a designated protest area that they won't allow two blocks away. Fair enough. Intentions are not always visible; the person righteously angry and yelling in a march might seem intoxicated and threatening in a different setting.

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Unconstitutional.

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...many times. It's you who seems to have slept through that class.

Seriously, just come out and say that you don't support their right to gather and protest.

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How many of these "white guilt parades" had permits?
"go off plan"? These protests come off as meandering mobs.

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You have no idea whether they had permits or not. You're just gassing as usual, Markkkkk.

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They did that for protesters today in Arlington.
https://twitter.com/schlichtman/status/544275069078601730

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what am I missing here?

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In the b******t Department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I gotta tell you the truth, folks. When it comes to b******t, big-time, major league b******t, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims: religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest b******t story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

But He loves you.

He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good b******t story. HOLY S**T!
-- George Carlin Politically Incorrect, May 29, 1997

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if George carlin were alive today, he'd be CEO of reddit

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John Salvi is the reason pro-lifers can't demonstrate
in MA anymore. Interesting wiki below.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Salvi

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Hey, if they'd just stop firebombing buildings and shooting people in the name of pro-life...

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Are the pro-lifers protesting the killings of black children, such as Trayvon Martin, and Tamir Rice? I always get the impression that they are more preoccupied with zygotes and fetuses, than human beings.

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Once you pop out into the world, you're on your own.

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I don't think the "We don't hate you" guy was speaking on behalf of everyone. At every protest there have been people walking up and down the lines of officers screaming that every one of them should be horribly murdered. Very mixed messages, they should really get on the same sheet of music.

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Seriously? You want a bunch of protesters who are not a part of any particular organization, each of whom has his or her personal take on the situation, each of whom is there for his or her personal, idiosyncratic set of reasons, to all get on the same sheet of music?

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At every protest there have been people walking up and down the lines of officers screaming that every one of them should be horribly murdered.

Evidence? Actual examples? From every protest, of protesters plural? Mind you that they must be screaming that "every one" of the police "should be horribly murdered".

(as an alternative, you could admit that you're a big bag of wind)

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I want sources too. I took the above photo and I didn't see ANY of this.

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The staties response we don't want no stinking carnations and arrested everyone.

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I think their response is more like, "It's been 2 weeks, stop trying to run onto the highway already!". Seriously, that part needs to end.

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I don't understand "Staties". Why are they necessary, other than to patrol the Mass Pike? The whole concept of Staties seems ridiculous to me. All they seem to do is get in pissing matches with BPD over jurisdiction which seems like it should belong to BPD (Seaport, the stretch of road where Morton St becomes Gallivan Blvd in Dot and many more), hang out at Dunks, administer CDL tests, do details at construction sites that are handled by civilians in 49 other US states, hang out at the McDonald's at the highway oasis on the Mass Pike. Staties are pretty much worthless. I hope Baker has the cajones to end their taxpayer sponsored party.

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A high level of professionalism and resources is not consistent across all 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts. State police organizations across the country are an important check and balance where townie cops may not treat everyone fairly.

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OK, the staties might come in handy if there is a flood in Granby or a mass shooting in Webster, I guess I can give you that, but I guess the main thing that I don't get is all of the pissing matches with BPD over turf. Seems asinine to me. Boston (and Cambridge) PD have always been very competent and professional in my experience, while staties remind me of a combination of the coach from Beevis and Butthead who cried out "YES!" when they kick him and the balls and the movie "Super Troopers".

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The State Police are useful to assist smaller jurisdictions that may be made up of only a chief and a few officers, and may not have the resources or skills required when a major crime or incident occur in that town.

They were also useful in the past with their paramilitary skills and gear at breaking up prison riots or evacuating people during floods. But now every department has paramilitary gear...

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How about the smaller jurisdictions that do not even have a chief and small officers?

And would some Boston residents kindly chime in and tell us how much they would love it if the State Police were not used for events like this?

Hell, if I lived in Boston, I would be delighted if huge amounts of my police resources were diverted downtown to prevent people (many of whom are not Boston residents) from putting at risk carloads of families coming into the City to spend money and celebrate the season (the hell with themselves, if you want to throw yourself in front of traffic, that's up to you). I'd be particularly happy about it when people intent on doing no good noticed that all of the police had been diverted downtown from the neighborhoods. I'm sure that every Boston taxpayer would also be delighted to pay the necessary overtime + to have additional officers called into duty on a Sunday, too.

So yeah, f#$% the State Police and tell them not to render any assistance to the BPD. While you're at it, tell the fire departments of the neighboring cities and towns to leave the Boston houses uncovered when there is a large fire somewhere in the City. I'm sure the local folks can handle anything that might happen with their garden hoses.

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As others have said, they're pretty important in parts of the state with large areas of land and small numbers of police. They kind of fail at search and rescue, though. They're officially in charge of search and rescue in MA, which sometimes works out well and sometimes fails, when they take a bash at it themselves and waste time before calling in the local people with the gear, skills and terrain knowledge to do the job.

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I have to say, I've been dealing with the BPD a lot these days. It's not my nature to trust "authority" but I trust this gang. Did you know we have one of the most diverse police departments in the country? They actually hire women... in management!

I'm not sure if it's just this Commissioner and leadership; they have been awesome in my community in Roxbury. They get community engagement, and where they don't they are willing to admit that and figure it out. I'm very glad that they respect people's right to protest. I'm glad they are keeping people safe.

We are lucky. I don't take that for granted. We have seen the alternative.

Thank you BPD.

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At issue is dysfunction of District Attorney offices and the overly close relationship between prosecutors and police. Perhaps a change needed is for DA office to more funding to hire private investigators to work on more cases rather than just police, especially when involving alleged police misconduct.

We also see cases like elder financial abuse and insurance fraud where prosecutors rarely have any interest in filing charges. Too often it looks like work for them and they don't want to risk "losing" any cases. They demand insurance companies do all the work for them to produce a clear cut case, and then maybe decide to file charges. This is one reason why medicare and welfare fraud is a huge business, besides routine disability and car crash injury fraud.

They have a 50% record of losses when trying to keep dangerous sex offenders at Bridgewater state treatment center because it takes considerable work to persuade a jury that a level-III sex offender is still a danger. Essie Billingslea is an example of one who was release and committed a violent rape about a year afterwards.

Perhaps we need a system where hiring a "criminal lawyer" would not just be for defending against charges, but working with the DA to produce criminal charges in cases such as financial abuse and fraud. This contributes to why so few Wall Street thieves ever see prosecution or jail.

If people think cops getting away with killing people is bad, consider how doctors and nurses can get away with killing far more people. Medication errors and failing to follow sterile procedures resulting in infection transmission causing death happen too often and nobody goes to jail. Like cops, they get away with it because these things "just happen" in their jobs.

A funding system based greatly on using assets seized in drug busts (civil forfeiture) presents a huge problem - prioritization of drug arrests and conviction. The other funding model based on setting low highway speed limits (by politicians, not traffic engineers) combined with speed traps isn't so great either, harming economic productivity through lost time on the safest types of roads that exist.

#HandsUpDontShoot (or "Pants Up, Don't Loot" for the Herald crowd) is easy to grasp for the masses, but the problems run much deeper and wider than that. A justice system overhaul is needed, changing how things are done. It will take more than marches when Legislators and the other two branches of government is filled with cowards disinterested in change to their comfortable systems.

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Very very adorable!

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walking on a side street and an older woman pulls up in a mercedes and asks where the "racism protest" meet up was - she said she was very late and hoped she hadn't missed it. I said I was sorry but I didn't have any idea but wished her luck. sigh... only in brookline...

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If all of these protesters would volunteer in hard-hit communites that would make a bigger difference than trying to jump onto 93 and the Pike and blocking streets in wealthy neighborhoods. Want to directly impact lives in a positive manner? Volunteer for big brother / big sister.

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I do volunteer with Big Sisters and have been with my Little for several years now. And I agree wholeheartedly with the suggestion. There are hundreds of girls on waiting lists hoping for Big Sisters; some wait a year or longer. But being a big brother or sister to an at-risk child is probably one of the most tiring, frustrating, and exhausting experiences that I have ever had. It's certainly not always rewarding and a lot of the time I want to rip my hair out while I'm spending time with my hyper-active, un-medicated Little Sister who clearly has severe ADD and a very poor home life situation, but I made a commitment that I intend to see through. I wish so many more would do the same.

I respect the right to protest and vent frustrations, but it makes me feel so frustrated because I feel like protesting is easy. Doing actual work to improve the community is difficult, which is why no one is at City Council meetings or writing to their councilor, volunteering with local youth organizations, or just going into their local precinct to introduce themselves to the police officers in their community. And it's a shame. Especially in a city like Boston, where people really do have the ability to bring about change in the community.

As someone mentioned in a post above, BPD is actually a great organization that hires women and minorities, so the general makeup of the police force really does resemble the diverse community it represents. They also do a ton of community outreach, whether it is Christmas parties for children, donating turkeys at Thanksgiving to families in need, serving dinners to the elderly, taking children to hockey/basketball games, or summer flashlight walks down Blue Hill Ave--BPD really is involved and wants to be involved with the community. If you aren't aware of all they do bpdnews.com is a great way to skim through and see that they are not the trigger-happy authoritarians that some would like to paint them as.

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False dichotomy. Only a simpleton would believe that it's an either-or thing, or that at a given moment in time, one might not be more important than the other. And let's face it, like everyone else who's made this same "helpful suggestion", you don't really want to improve the situation in "hard-hit communities" -- you just want the whole problem to go away and not trouble you any more, so you can go back to your comfortable complacency.

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Sorry you don't want to make a difference. Some of us do. Keep typing away from your cozy basement at mom's house, internet warrior!

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