Fifteen self-styled “rebels” ended up in cuffs as a local weather group blocked visitors in a number of spots round Boston — and the group is planning to maintain up the “disruption” this week with no intent to hunt permits.
“There will be some more disruption,” Alex Chambers, an organizer for the group in query, Extinction Rebellion Boston, instructed the Herald Wednesday afternoon.
The morning’s model of it ended with arrests by state and native police. On the Leverett Circle Connector simply north of downtown, staties arrested 5 individuals ages 48 by way of 67 on costs of trespassing on state property.
Those had been Grant F. Rockett, 64, and Mary E. Hansen, 67, each of Jamaica Plain, Mark A. Dugan, 54, of Newton, Jennifer M. Smith, 48, of Watertown, and Joseph Rogers, 55, of Lyndeborough, N.H.
From them, State Police mentioned, they seized a number of “sleeping dragons,” the cops’ whimsical title for metal drum barrels with pipes by way of them that protesters can stick their arms into and lock their palms collectively inside to create a difficult-to-remove roadblock.
Boston Police reported seizing one other pink oil-barrel-cum-sleeping-dragon at Summer Street and Dorchester Avenue, and arrested a number of individuals for blocking visitors on the perpetually under-construction North Washington Street Bridge. No one truly ended up getting right into a sleeping-dragon roadblock state of affairs, cops mentioned.
Another group got here collectively at Post Office Square within the Financial District and made its manner down the road to the Seaport Boulevard bridge, blocking visitors with a big banner that mentioned the Seaport might be underwater by 2050.
Boston Police mentioned they arrested 10 individuals throughout the three Boston locales: Perry T. Krasow, 62, of Waltham; Nicholas G. Bryant, 32, of Boston; Allen P. McGonagill, 32, of Somerville; Andrew R. Iliff, 41, of Jamaica Plain; Paul Shannon, 75, of Somerville; John Reynolds Burkhardt, 56, of Arlington; Maria L. Ogden, 60, of Putney, Vt.; Benjamin S. Hayward, 24, and Samantha Hayward, 23, each of Castleton, Vt.; and William C. Regan, 43, of Redondo Beach, Calif..
Most of the arrests got here from conditions through which cops instructed individuals to clear the highway, and the people didn’t, in response to police reviews.
People there caught within the ensuing visitors jam and on social media had been peeved, venting verbally and just about in regards to the holdup.
“We are sorry for the disruption,” Chamber mentioned, noting that the purpose right here is just to get extra press about environmental points even when it makes individuals mad. He added, “We decided to engage in mass disruption because nothing else has worked.”
Chambers declined to specify the place or when the additional disruptions is likely to be. The group’s web site, although, recommended a bike-based “rebel ride” within the Copley space on Thursday and an occasion on Boston Common later this week. This is all a part of the “week of rebellion” that the self-styled “rebels” are holding this week in Boston to additional local weather objectives, resembling shifting away from fossil fuels and slicing down on vehicles, in response to the location.
A spokesman for Mayor Michelle Wu mentioned the group hadn’t sought any permits for protests this week from the town.
Chambers confirmed that the group didn’t search any permits for demonstrations, and it doesn’t intend to.
The Wu administration deferred to the cops on the method to additional visitors disruptions this week, and the police, as is typical for the division, declined to elaborate on its technique going ahead.
This is definitely a gaggle that Wu, who’s centered on “Green New Deal” language as a metropolis councilor and now mayor, marched with in 2019, when she tweeted “Taking the Congress St bridge” and tagged Extinction Rebellion Boston alongside a video of a protest on the bridge parallel to the place the Boston cops arrested protesters Wednesday morning.
Asked in regards to the ways of seeking to shut down main roads, Wu centered on the local weather message of the obstructers.
“I hear the urgency that so many activists feel and we’re working as hard as we can every single day to make sure that the city of Boston is moving fast,” Wu mentioned.
But she added, “Public safety and being able to ensure that everybody is safe on our roadways is a really important priority. So I know we were able to resolve that this morning and make sure that the roads can open up and folks could get to work, as well.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”