Occupy Boston demonstrators led a march of solidarity for Occupy Oakland, which underwent police raids that led to 85 arrests in Oakland, Calif. on Tuesday.
In Oakland, more than 500 policemen arrested protesters before dawn on Tuesday because the protesters were camping outside of Frank Ogawa Plaza without a permit. Police in full-riot armor used flash grenades, tear gas and rubber on “nonviolent” Occupy Oakland protesters, according to the Occupy Boston website.
Although the police intervened at Occupy Oakland, other groups, such as Occupy Boston, are taking action with marches and protests.
Beginning in Dewey Square, about 100 people marched through South Station with posters and flags in solidarity for Occupy Oakland.
About 30 tents are set up in Dewey Square, which is part of the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway. Protesters sleep in their tents, sit outside of their tents and pass out flyers to people passing by.
In addition to raising awareness for the Occupy Oakland raid, some demonstrators said they had other agendas for protesting Wall Street on Tuesday.
“I took part in the protest because I’m tired of being told that there is not enough money for schools,” said Amirah Holberg, a public school teacher in Framingham.
“The goals of the Occupy Boston movement is to get a discussion going about why inequality exists in our society and to instill confidence back into our teachers,” Holberg said. “Other problems that need to be addressed are poverty and the low standard of living.”
Holberg said that Occupy Boston’s next steps should be getting more unions to become actively involved.
“Students should bring Occupy to their schools, which will promote universities and protesters working together to achieve a solution,” she said. “We are teachers, lawyers, nurses, electrical engineers,” Holberg said. “. . . Not homeless and unruly people.”
Mary Yi, a freshman in Boston University’s School of Education, said that seeing the tents at Dewey Square is more eye opening than hearing about Occupy Boston on the news.
“I am shocked that people are living in their tents as winter is approaching,” she said.
Other demonstrators participating in Occupy Boston included members of the Boston Teachers Union, Massachusetts Teachers Associations, Communication Workers Union, Jobs with Justice, LGBTQ groups and immigrant rights groups.
Occupy Boston continues to raise awareness about the dissatisfaction with the American economic and political systems. An upcoming Occupy Wall Street movement is Bank Transfer Day, which will take place on Nov. 5.
A protester at the rally who asked to remain anonymous said that the movement is the future for students, and “they better be ready to fight to change the financial industry.”
“The sanitary issue in Oakland is not considered a felony,” said another protester who also asked to remain anonymous. “As the word about Occupy Wall Street is spread, the organization is getting bigger, which scares the financial industry.”
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“occupy” is far less rowdy than most football or basketball games (especially) when the home team loses… the bottom line is that peaceful people have a right to dissent for as long as they want