Boston mayor says he sympathizes with protesters, but they can't tie up the city

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino today defended the arrests of scores of Occupy Boston protesters in a section of the city's Greenway park, saying he agrees with them on the issues but they couldn't be allowed to "tie up the city."
"I understand they have freedom of speech and freedom of expression, but we have a city to manage," he said in a telephone interview. "I'm open to suggestions, but civil disobedience will not be tolerated."
The early morning arrests of the protesters, who have gathered downtown in recent days to criticize the financial industry and social inequality, began at about 1:20 a.m. Police said late this afternoon that 141 people had been arrested.

"The message they are saying ... is the middle class of America is having a difficult time. That's the issue they are trying to get across," Menino said.

"I agree with them on the issues. Foreclosure. Corporate greed. These are issues I've been working on my entire career. But you can't tie up a city," he said.

He said protesters had crossed two lines, first, by marching on the North Washington Street Bridge and threatening to tie up traffic and, second, by expanding their campground to a newly renovated area of the Greenway that the city had asked them to stay off.

Occupy Boston said today in a statement that police had "brutally attacked" protesters.

"Today's reprehensible attack by the Boston Police Department represents a sad and disturbing shift away from dialogue and towards violent repression," the group said on its website.

"Members of Veterans for Peace [a peace group that has joined the loosely organized protest] carrying American flags were pushed to the ground and their flags trampled as the police hauled them away," the group said in a statement.

Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said officers "have a right to protect themselves," and acted with restraint.

"We believe all our officers were respectful and proportional," she said.

She said police felt compelled to break up the demonstration when it expanded beyond Dewey Square, where protesters have been camped for nearly two weeks, to the adjacent section of the Greenway.

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Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Boston
• New York City
• San Francisco
• occupy
• wall
• street
• protests
• free
• speech
• democracy

[Dealit707]

Shut the fuck up Comrade. You don't represent the American people, (00.0099% is more like it) The real 99%, would love to see the cops beat you Marxist's senseless, all the way to the borders of Boston, where your mommy and daddy can pick up your sorry asses and bring you back to the basements you live in.