EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: 4 Occupy Boston protesters arrested

Nov. 6, 2011   Leave a Comment  

This freshly-painted banner, shown here the night before the arrests, was carried by one of the protestors. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

At approximately 5:55 p.m. yesterday, Sean Cormier, 21, of Westport, Kiean Lyons, 17, of Norwood, and Jeffrey Nunes, 17 of Westport, were arrested outside the Burger King at 553 Boylston Street across from Trinity Church in Copley Plaza. A police spokesperson told the Boston Globe the three were masked when “they burst through the front [...]

Patriots player Julian Edelman arrested for allegedly groping a woman at a night club, pleads not guilty

Nov. 1, 2011   Leave a Comment  

New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was released today on personal recognizance after he was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court for indecent assault and battery.  The NFL star allegedly groped a woman at Storyville, a Back Bay nightclub, around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Edelman, 25, kept quiet during the short hearing and a [...]

The Big Gallery: Occupy Boston — One month in photos

Oct. 31, 2011   6 Comments  

01 Friday, September 30

Friday, September 30 — After meeting for a few days in encuentro5 (a space in Chinatown for community and progressive groups), the pioneers of Occupy Boston reached consensus to occupy Dewey Square a week earlier than was initially planned.  Before setting up tents, they joined a protest of 2000-3000 people organized by Right to the [...]

Interview: Rachel McNeill, Iraq War veteran arrested with Occupy Boston

Oct. 29, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Rachel McNeill (center, holding American flag) locks arms with fellow Veterans for Peace members moments before she was arrested in Boston on October 11. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Rachel McNeill is one of 141 people arrested on October 11 when Occupy Boston briefly expand its encampment. This soft-spoken Wisconsin native is a veteran of the Iraq War who joined the Army Reserve shortly after 9/11. She was 17 years old. McNeill spent a year in Iraq, much of it in the so-called “Sunni [...]

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With flags and masks, Occupy Boston marches past its first month

Oct. 28, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Demonstrators hang their banner off a footbridge over Storrow Drive (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

This week, the fourth since setting up camp on September 30, Occupy Boston has increased its visibility through a series of marches including a trip to Harvard Square (by way of the Head of the Charles Regatta), several hostile visits to FOX News and the home of a Bank of America president, angry protests against [...]

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Occupy Boston: Crime, addiction, and community response inside the tent city

Oct. 23, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Signs like these sprung up around camp on Monday. Even marijuana use is being stringently discouraged. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Depending on who is telling the story, last weekend a person either “flashed a knife at” or “pulled a knife on” a group of people at Occupy Boston. Someone felt threatened enough to let the Boston Police know. The accused person was apprehended by police and was reportedly discovered to be carrying a knife and [...]

“Anonymous” hacker group takes down police websites, posts personal information online

Oct. 22, 2011   2 Comments  

Law enforcement websites and Internet services, including those used by the Boston Police Department came under attack yesterday by members of a hacker group called Anonymous. In a statement released by the group taking credit for the hack, the group claims “solidarity with occupation movement and anti-police brutality protesters.” “In solidarity with the Occupation Movement [...]

It’s Official: Theo Epstein has resigned as Red Sox GM, named president of the Cubs

Oct. 21, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Theo Epstein, the general manager who assembled two World Series championship Boston Red Sox teams, has officially resigned and will depart for the Chicago Cubs, where he has been named president of baseball operations. The move comes after an epic September collapse and one of the most disastrous endings to a season in Boston sports [...]

Joan and Valerie visit Occupy Boston

Oct. 21, 2011   Leave a Comment  

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Earlier this month, 85 year old Joan Prum took a stroll down “Main Street,” a precarious pathway of pallets and muddy plywood that divides the main area of Occupied Boston into some 40 tents on one side and about 50 on the other. Although 60 or more years the senior of many protestors, Joan, a [...]

Unidentified woman found dead in the Charles River

Oct. 20, 2011   Leave a Comment  

State Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a woman found dead in the Charles River early this morning. Members of the State Police Underwater Recovery Unit and troopers with Troop H responded to the Harvard Bridge at 6:20 a.m. on an eyewitness report of a woman who had jumped into the water.  [...]

Dress for protest: Occupy Boston gear and accessories

Oct. 20, 2011   1 Comment  

Masks help conceal the wear's identity, but their most important use is to prevent the inhalation of pepper spray should it be used. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Photographers encountering Occupy Boston and similar occupations gravitate towards folks dressed or coiffed distinctively. Unusual looking people make photos more interesting. But the truth is, most people in the Occupy Boston community dress pretty boring without much hint of a hippie, hipster, or any of the other cultural stereotypes being associated with the movement. Visually, [...]

Entrenched in Occupy Boston at the end of week two

Oct. 15, 2011   5 Comments  

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Editor’s note: Blast writer John Stephen Dwyer has been staying with Occupy Boston protesters since the beginning of the protest. He has been filing longer stories every few days with breaking news when it happens. Two weeks ago, 300 people illegally seized a portion of the Rose Kennedy Greenway and set up tents. The mayor [...]

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Arrested Occupy Boston Protestors seen in court today, most dismissed with no charges

Oct. 11, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Out of the nearly 300 arrested at Occupy Boston last night for trespassing, unlawful assembly and being in a park after 11 p.m., almost 57 appeared in court today according to the Suffolk County District Attorney. Most of the arrestees accepted the prosecutors’ offer to resolve the cases civilly, but a few refused and opted [...]

Gallery: Occupy Boston protesters arrested

Oct. 11, 2011   1 Comment  

Moments after the Tuesday morning arrests, Rev. Jason Lydon collects donations for bail money. Lydon has been marching with the Occupy Boston protest several times and his congregation, the Community Church of Boston, is a Unitarian Universalist church in the Back Bay vocal in its solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and similar movements across the globe. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

This is a collection of Blast Magazine photography from the Monday Occupy Boston protests and the police arrest of 129 people who had built a tent city in a second part of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway that police had said was off limits.

District attorney: Most arrested Occupy Boston protesters will not face criminal charges

Oct. 11, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Protesters link arms as police approach (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Dozens of the protesters arrested during Occupy Boston’s expansion into a renovated portion of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on Monday will not face criminal charges if they pay a $50 court fee and accept a civil infraction. This was done at Boston Municipal Court this afternoon the request of the prosecutors in the office [...]

141 arrested in Occupy Boston protest

Oct. 11, 2011   2 Comments  

A protester is arrested during the bridge rally (Blast staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Yesterday, thousands of people swelled the ranks of Occupy Boston in a march that began at the Boston Common and snaked through various Boston neighborhoods to protest — among other complaints — high unemployment, government malfeasance and corporate greed. Student groups and representatives from local labor unions were well-represented. The throng stopped at several points, [...]

Hope in sight for rain-weary Northeast

Oct. 3, 2011   Leave a Comment  

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — AccuWeather.com — A sluggish storm will bring a chilly rain to many parts of the Northeast through early this week, but hope for rain-weary people is in sight. The jet stream, a river of high winds aloft that steers storms across the country, is positioned well to the north over Canada. [...]

24 arrested as thousands take part in protests in Boston’s Financial District

Oct. 1, 2011   1 Comment  

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A diverse crowd of protestors gathered Friday afternoon on Boston Common and marched to the Bank of America building at 100 Federal Street, across from South Station. Right to the City (RTTC), a group organized in 2007 as a response to the gentrification of low-income urban neighborhoods, seems to have been the primary organizer of [...]

Ashland man arrested and charged in terrorist plot against the Pentagon and US Capitol

Sept. 28, 2011   Leave a Comment  

Federal authorities charged an Ashland man with plotting to damage the Pentagon and US Capitol with a remote-controlled aircraft filled with explosives. Rezwan Ferdaus, a 26-year-old US citizen, was arrested today.  He was also charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, in this case Al Qaeda, in order [...]

Springfield’s Mercy Medical center briefly locked down after area bank robbery

Sept. 28, 2011   Leave a Comment  

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Mercy Medical Center in Springfield was locked down this morning after two bank robbery suspects were seen fleeing toward the hospital’s emergency room, police said. The TD Bank on Chestnut Street was robbed at 10:30 a.m. Two suspects described as black man about 6-feet tall, one wearing a green had and one wearing a blue [...]