Middle East

Day of protests in Copley Square

Occupy Boston goes uptown

Occupy Boston moved over to Copley Square for a "general assembly" today even as Syrian expatriates and supporters were protesting for a free Syria. Richard Beaubien was there.

Syrian protest

Copyright Richard Beaubien. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Occupy Lobby: Scott Brown vs. anti-Israel protesters

A small group of Occupy Boston protesters marched from Dewey Square to Park Plaza Friday evening and held a brief sit-in in the lobby of the office building that houses the Israeli consulate.

The protesters, who chanted against "Israeli apartheid," did not actually get up to the consulate and were ushered out by police after about 15 minutes.

Sen. Brown, however, today denounced this "invasion of the Israeli consulate in Boston:"

It was shocking to hear the protestors chanting anti-Israel slogans in support of the terrorist-backed intifada uprising, which has created so much misery and death in Israel. There should be no mistaking which side America is on in the fight against terror, and I want to make it clear that I stand with Israel.

Fighting fire with hummus

Martin Solomon reports (with photos) that pro-Israel demonstrators countered a pro-Palestine protest outside the Park Street T stop the other day not with megaphones of their own but with tables from which they gave out samples of Israeli hummus:

Commuters flocked to the tables to sample the delicious spread.

Libyan protest in Copley Square

Libyan protest in Copley Square

BostonTweet (above) and Neal Gaffey took photos of the protest against the Libyan government today.

Libyan protest

Photos copyright BostonTweet and Neal Gaffey, respectively.

Did the roots of Egyptian regime change grow in East Boston?

The Daily Beast profiles Gene Sharp and his Einstein Institution, which preaches non-violent revolt:

For the last half century, Sharp has been writing about nonviolent protest, and trying to make his ideas accessible to dissidents the world over. No mean feat, given that his signature work, The Politics of Non-Violent Action, weighs in at 900 pages and was published in 1973. But it's working. Thanks in part to a distillation of his ideas entitled From Dictatorships to Democracy, which can be downloaded from Sharp's website in dozens of languages, his gospel of upheaval has apparently become essential reading for budding revolutionaries in Cairo and parts beyond.

Via EastBoston.com.

Any local celebrations of events in Egypt?

If you know of any, please post.

Anti-Mubarak protest in Cambridge, Boston

Egyptian protestYoung protester. Photo by Jillian York.

John Pouliot tweets on the protest that started in Central Square:

300+ ppl Signs: "Freedom for Egypt" "Down with Mubarak" & in Arabic.

Egyptian protestersMore protesters. Photo by ChinatownKicks.

Egyptian protest in Back BayProtesters in the Back Bay. Photo by Nancy & Ronan.

Scott Eisen took lots of photos of the march. More photos by York.

Top photo used under this Creative Commons license by Jillian York. Second photo copyright ChinatownKicks. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr. Third photo copyright Nancy & Ronan. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.

Anti-Israel protesters choose a Saturday to protest Israel in Brookline

Gosh, why would they do that? Martin Solomon posts some e-mail from one of the organizers:

The effect of a silent march through the (mostly but not entirely) liberal Jewish neighborhood on the Sabbath with a banner saying Freedom and Equality for Palestine! should be strikng indeed...

And yes, there will be pro-Israel counter march, with people standing outside the temples along the route.

Solemn moment in the rain in Copley Square

Scooterdude, the guy you see sailing around Copley Square with his plastic sail, was out yesterday enjoying a ride (yes, in the rain), when a family got out of a car and walked to the center of the park with a flag and then stood there:

... I approached them and asked about the flag and their purpose.

They explained that it was the flag of Iran and that they were there to continue a witness to the ordeal the Iranian people are currently suffering in their homeland.

I couldn't help but admire their solitary witness, their commitment and resolution that, despite this dismal day of wind and wetness, they came out to stand for their people and for the democratic principles that all of us share. ...