More than 100 Occupy Boston movement members were arrested at the Rose Kennedy Greenway early Monday morning after protesting for eight days against the “corruption” and “greed” of Wall Street in the Financial District.
Boston Police Department officials began making arrests at about 1:30 a.m. on the Greenway, a private park, after giving protesters a five-minute warning to get off the property. After making arrests, officers disposed of the leftover tents on the Greenway and surrounded the perimeter.
“Even though we made it very clear that we were not going to be physically resisting and they probably could’ve just tapped on peoples’ shoulders and walked right through, they shoved right through, hitting people on the face and knocking them to the ground,” said Occupy Boston protester Allison Nevitt, 48. “They have now occupied the park. They are now occupying Boston.”
After officers issued a warning to protesters to get off the Greenway and return to Dewey Square, the original Occupy Boston camp, a group of Veterans for Peace moved in front of the protesters who had linked arms.
Paul “Jesse” Pernier, a Vietnam War veteran, said the police plowed through the veterans to get to the crowd in the center of the Greenway.
“We said they’d have to go through us veterans to get to these young people,” he said. “They came like a bulldozer and they just plowed us down, and they took our flags.”
Pernier said he crawled away from officers through nearby bushes to look for fellow Veterans of Peace, three of whom were still missing at 2:30 a.m.
“I haven’t seen this in years. This reminds me of the sixties,” he said. “This revolution is going to make ours look like a walk in the park. This is the beginning of it.”
About an hour after the mass arrest, a brigade of officers on motorcycles ushered the growing crowd away from the Greenway. Protesters in Dewey Square chanted, “The whole world is watching!” and “Who do your serve? The 1 percent!”
Lingering protesters marched up Federal Street at 3 a.m. on their way to the city jail. One officer said that some of the arrested protesters were being detained in Roxbury.
Members of the National Lawyers Guild accompanied protesters through the Federal District to ensure that they would be treated lawfully when arrested.
“We’re all trained to observe and protect the protesters’ rights if there’s going to be criminal charges against a protester, which is probably likely in this case,” National Lawyers Guild representative Chris Williams, 42, said. “We’re definitely here to assist Occupy Boston.”
Hours before officials arrested protesters, Occupy Boston coordinated general assembly meetings and discussions to prepare for incoming police.
Nevitt led a forum at 10 p.m. to form a plan of action after protesters made a unanimous decision to stay on the Greenway and face possible arrests.
“The important thing is that, if the police come, we want to make a unified protest-style statement,” she said to a crowd on Dewey Square. “There’s a strong visual from having a plan and acting in unity, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Like other protesters, Nevitt acknowledged the rumor that the police would be coming at midnight, when the Greenway closes for the night.
“You can smile because the reality is, you can thank them if they arrest you, because if they arrest you, this is going to grow,” she said. “We know that for every person that is arrested, five to ten more people are going to [come] down here.”
Nevitt advised the crowd not to panic if they are arrested, and said that people who did not want to get arrested should have a plan for getting out of the area before the police came.
Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis arrived on the scene around 11:30 p.m. to hand out pamphlets asking protesters for their “ongoing cooperation.”
“We’ve been begging these people for days,” the Commissioner said. “We can’t have this here.”
The pamphlet said that the BPD “will arrest those knowingly in violation of the law if necessary” and warned the crowd that those who participate in unlawful assembly and trespassing could be arrested, fined or imprisoned.
However, protesters continued to demonstrate until the police forced them apart.
Protester Tim Richman, 19, a recent high school graduate, acknowledged that it was illegal to gather in the Greenway after midnight, but said protesters shouldn’t let “the man” push them around.
“It’s a movement in America and I’m just so happy to be part of it,” he said. “It’s just showing, once we unify as people, we can take back our rights as people.”
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I can’t see where the police can be accused of doing anything wrong as it seems the protesters were given ample warning to vacate and knew of the park’s closure at midnight.