#OccupyBoston Encampment Destroyed in Pre-Dawn Raid by the City of Boston; Occupiers Defiant
BOSTON/Dewey Square - The Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square was completely destroyed starting at 4:58 a.m. this morning in a major operation by the Boston Police Department - working together the Boston Parks Department, other city agencies, and representatives of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy.
After a relatively quiet night - marred at about 4 a.m. by an assault on Occupy Boston spokesperson Robin Jacks by a man who rushed into the camp, called Jacks and all women present “prostitutes”, punched her in the face, stole her iPhone, was tackled by a Boston Police officer and arrested while Jacks phone was recovered by fellow occupiers - about 150 occupiers and supporters were settling down to what they hoped would be an uneventful day.
However, just before 5 a.m., over 100 Boston Police - including elements of the Special Operations Unit and K-9 Unit - swarmed into the camp, issued warnings over loudspeakers that anyone who remained there would be arrested, and began arresting those who stayed, and some who moved away, on trespass charges. All press, spectators, legal observers and medical personnel were forced out of the park while the arrests were completed.
Police immediately began dismantling the camp, and piling the resultant wreckage on the Atlantic Ave. sidewalk for cleanup by Boston Public Works workers - who used waiting dump trucks and a bulldozer to remove everything but the park’s plant life.
The raid was the culmination of weeks of effort by the occupiers to defend their First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression against attempts by the City of Boston to remove their encampment - founded on September 30th by over 1000 area residents in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park in New York City. With hopes - that they believe have been realized - of opening a major new front in the democracy movement that has now spread around the nation and around the world.
At 6 a.m., after the news media was briefly allowed to take photos and videos of the remnant of the camp before it was removed, Boston Police Department Superintendent William Evans held a short press conference on the corner of Atlantic Ave. and Congress St.
Evans said, “At about 5 a.m. this morning, we moved into the operation here at Occupy Boston. As we moved in the protestors were sitting down, not putting up much of a fight. We ended up arresting several dozen at this time. Our operational basic plan was very orderly, very methodical. Nobody was injured. And there was no confrontation whatsoever. The several dozen that we arrested we charged with trespassing - after we'd given several warnings to leave the premises before they were arrested. There were several also arrested for locking arms and resisting arrest; so we don't have the exact number, but several dozen, again, after repeated announcements over the loudspeakers to leave or they would be arrested. They wanted to get arrested. It went very well and we're very happy with the operation.”
An unnamed BPD official then updated the number of arrestees to 40.
[A full transcript of the Evans press conference can be found here.]
Jacks’ response to the raid was direct. “I'm in shock. It was very sudden - even with the previous day's notice, it happened very fast. It was pretty traumatic seeing all of that being dismantled. BPD were very gentle and respectful, but I am concerned with how they cordoned media off and none of us were allowed a direct view of what was going on. Also concerned with how National Lawyers Guild members and medics were arrested.
“There's no ‘we will be back.’ We never went anywhere. We are spinning our proverbial cocoons today. Metamorphosis.”
As the City of Boston and Rose Kennedy Greenway personnel worked on reconstructing the Dewey Square park, the remaining 100 occupiers and supporters gathered in front of South Station.
At about 7 a.m., a deaf Occupier named Jamaica was arrested in the South Station men’s room by over a dozen Boston Police officers with support from the Transit Police. It was unclear why he was arrested as of this writing.
By 7:30 a.m., after some deliberation, the occupiers onsite decided to hold a general assembly this evening at 7 p.m. at the Boston Common’s Parkman Bandstand and discuss what to do next with their entire community.
Jacks concluded, "Next steps: we'll figure it out at general assembly tonight. We will follow our process and make decisions. We will mourn together and stand strong. We have a giant jumbled pile of ideas and tonight we begin the process of sorting it all out."
The Occupy Boston media working group released a statement at 12:30 p.m.
“On December 10, 2011 at 5:00 AM #OccupyBoston’s Dewey Square encampment was raided by the Boston Police Department and other officials. Thirty-five peaceful protesters were arrested on the Rose Kennedy Greenway just two days after Mayor Thomas Menino issued a notice of eviction. Eight others were arrested in the streets and sidewalks surrounding Dewey Square, and three were detained in South Station. Throughout the two-hour period in which the arrests occurred, #OccupyBoston members remained resolute and non-violent in the face of a disproportionately large police presence: at least 100 officers were counted inside Dewey Square at 5:30 AM, some estimates place the count at greater than 200.
“Credentialed press, citizen journalists, academic researchers, and #OccupyBoston media members were repeatedly corralled and moved to surrounding areas 50 feet away or more, prohibiting many from thoroughly covering the raid. From pointing lights in photographers’ lenses to targeting the two official #OccupyBoston USTREAM live videographers for removal, officials went to great lengths to block media access.
“You cannot evict an idea whose time has come. Boston’s Occupiers will persist in rejecting a world created by and for the 1%. We might have been evicted, but we shall not be moved. We remain invested in the future of our movement. We will continue to challenge Wall Street’s occupation of our government.
“We encourage everyone to join in the national conversation that has sustained #OccupyBoston for the past seventy-one days. #OccupyBoston will hold a General Assembly tonight at 7:00 PM at the bandstand on the Boston Common.We are the 99%, and we are no longer silent.”
Occupy Boston organizers were also able to confirm that there were 46 arrests overall - 32 men and 14 women. 35 were arrested at the OccupyBoston camp, 8 on nearby streets and sidewalks, and 3 in South Station.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild issued a joint statement at 2:30 p.m.
"Since the Occupy movement began in September, its participants have used their Constitutional rights to speech, assembly, and petition to send a powerful message: that no one, no matter how wealthy or powerful, is above the law, and that inequality under the law must be addressed.
“Despite today's police action, no one can evict an idea.
“While its encampment at Dewey Square may be gone for now, Occupy Boston protestors successfully and peaceably deployed their First Amendment rights to spread their message. In just a few weeks, nearly everyone in the country has become familiar with the Occupy movement’s concern that 1% of citizens possess not only an oversized share of the nation’s wealth, but an ability to act with impunity and to ignore the needs of the other 99%. Even Judge McIntyre cited the Occupy movement’s 'contribution to the national conversation' in her order lifting protections previously in place to protect the Occupy Boston encampment.
“The ACLU of Massachusetts and the National Lawyers Guild, through attorney Howard Cooper of Todd & Weld, are proud to have defended the rights of peaceful Occupy Boston protestors, which they have used with such remarkable creativity, skill, and effectiveness.”
At least 20 arrestees had been bailed out of jail as of 5 p.m. They will be arraigned on Monday morning.
UPDATE, 9:27 p.m.: Most of the arrestees were bailed out this afternoon, but some have still not been released due to prior offenses on their records.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
The full accompanying photo set will be published separately by tomorrow evening.
