New Hampshire authorities today revealed startling evidence against the girlfriend of a drug suspect, at first painted as an innocent victim in a horrific scene that rocked New England earlier this month.

The April 12 drug raid on the home of Cullen Mutrie, 29, left Greenland, N.H. Police Chief Michael Maloney dead and four other police officers shot. Mutrie, reportedly shot and killed his reputed girlfriend, Brittany Tibbetts, 26, before turning the gun on himself.

Legal documents indicated Mutrie was the target of the drug investigation, but police were also seeking to search Tibbetts, who they believed was also involved in the sale of drugs in the otherwise sleepy New Hampshire town. Police, through a confidential source, believed Mutrie and Tibbetts were selling about 500 oxycodone pills every few days out of the house, and Mutrie had also been linked to illegal steroids.

And today, New Hampshire Attorney General Michael A. Delaney revealed that a Ruger .357 revolver recovered from the crime scene was actually purchased by Tibbetts, at a January gun show in Manchester, N.H.

A 9 mm pistol was also recovered, but police have not yet determined its origin.

Police already believed Mutrie was armed before the ill-fated raid.

AccuWeather.com reports in the Northeast and southern New England, the perfect pattern for fog, along with the warmth, continues through the week.

While the late summer into early fall is the prime season for fog, under the right conditions, fog can be a problem in the early spring as well.

Folks in parts of the Northeast have certainly received an education on this in recent days.

According to AccuWeather.com’s Chief Operating Officer Evan Myers, “The pattern is very similar to what occurs in September, in terms of the long nights, moisture and temperature.”

“It’s a blend of radiation and advection fog in this case,” Myers added.

Radiation fog occurs when marginally moist air in place cools to its saturation point at night and is most common in the autumn.

Advection fog occurs when the cloud bank is pushed in from a particular area or it is caused by the flow of moist air over a cold surface, causing it to cool to its saturation point. Advection fog is most common in the spring and late-winter.

Backdoor fronts bearing advection fog and drizzle have spoiled many fine spring days in coastal New England and the mid-Atlantic over the years.

According to AccuWeather.com’s Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, “While water and land temperatures are running much warmer than normal this year, they are still relatively cool when compared to the unusually warm air mass like we have around the region now.”

Light winds and a layer of warm air above the ground are preventing the fog from breaking up at a rapid pace during the midday hours in the current pattern.

The temperature inversion, as it is called, is also trapping pollutants near the ground.

Over the weekend, a slow-moving storm will drift to the Atlantic coast and will begin to stir the atmosphere over the region.

Until this storm passes and dry air mixes in from the west, fog problems will continue. As the storm itself affects the area with its own moisture and showers, problems with low visibility may not be limited to the late-night and early-morning hours.

Abrams quipped, “In the wake of the storm next week, once the fog is gone it won’t be mist (missed).”

By Alex Sosnowski, expert senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com

In the days before the New Hampshire primary, Occupy Manchester set up a camp in Veterans Memorial Park to serve as daytime base of operations for activists who came from as far away as the West Coast to protest the perversion of politics by corporate money. On the night before voting, the proximity of this encampment and the Radisson hotel lounge across the street led to friendly conversation between Occupy activists and at least two notable people.

Michael Steele is former chairman of the Republican National Committee. When John Ford of Occupy Boston pressed Steele about why those who caused economic collapse have never been criminally investigated, Steele said “The system moves to protect itself.” When asked by Ford, “What can we do?” Steel replied, “Keep doing what you’re doing.” In regards to the protests and political birddogging the occupiers had done in New Hampshire over the previous few days, Steel said, “You did a great job. Keep it going.”

A while later, activists including Eric Binder of Occupy Boston talked to Juan Williams, a writer and commentator appearing on Fox News Channel. When asked his opinion of Occupy, Williams said “I like it.” When Binder mentioned freedom of speech, Williams laughed in a friendly way and said “imagine what I feel about freedom of speech” (probably referring to a 2010 incident when comments he made on “The O’Reilly Factor” led to NPR terminating his contract). Williams, agreeing with many of the protestors’ gripes, said “there’s a lot to be changed.”

Starting Wednesday (when Mark Provost asked Mitt Romney to update his opinion on corporate personhood to “corporations are abusive people”) through Tuesday, activists with the Occupy movement made themselves seen and heard wherever candidates appeared in public. On Monday, Occupiers staged a protest at Obama for America headquarters in Manchester to send the message that neither Democrats nor Republicans are currently serving the common good.

After confiscating a Massachusetts woman’s cupcake, the federal Transportation Security Administration is defending their decision according to boston.com.

Rebecca Hains of Peabody was not allowed to take her cupcake on the plain from Las Vegas to Massachusetts, and called the TSA’s defense “terrible logic.”

The TSA says the cupcake was packed in a jar full of frosting, which is considered a gel. This violates the policy that prohibits liquids and gels in order to protect travelers from terrorists that design explosives made of such substances.

Travelers are permitted to take cakes, pies and cupcakes through security as long as the gel does not exceed the federal limits.

David E. Pouliot, deceased, of Springfield, Mass., has been linked to the crime scene

An unsolved 1993 homicide case involving a 10-year-old Grafton girl was the subject of a press conference last week hosted by Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni. The conference was held to update the public on a case involving Holly Piirainen, who was abducted and murdered.

In the spring of 2011, Mastroianni informed State Police and other detective bureaus that evidence in unsolved homicide cases would be reviewed to see if a new forensic or scientific examination would be helpful. Holly Piirainen’s case was one of them. New testing revealed that an item found at the time when Holly’s remains were discovered bore an “indisputable identification” to a person who had a connection with the crime scene area.

According to Mastroianni, David E. Pouliot of Springfield, Mass., was linked to the item at the crime scene. Pouliot died on Aug. 16, 2003 and is not a suspect, officials said. While he’s not a suspect, police are still interested in hearing from the public in case anyone had interacted with Pouliot from 1993 to 2003. Photographs of Pouliot were released.

“Developing as much information as possible about David Pouliot, with the assistance of the public, is vital to fully follow up on this new lead,” said Mastroianni. “The nature and character of the item tested, as well as its condition and location upon discovery, suggests Pouliot and/or persons associated with him were in the immediate crime scene area at a time relevant to Holly’s disappearance and the location of her remains. All evidence and leads previously developed in this case are now being evaluated with consideration given to this new forensic development. Review of all items for further forensic analysis continues to be part of this ongoing investigation.”

The victim, 10-year-old Holly Piirainen

On Aug. 5, 1993, Holly’s father, Richard Piirainen, reported Holly missing around 12:50 p.m. The girl was on vacation with him and other family members in a Sturbridge cottage, and was last seen around 11:45 a.m. by her father. She was off to play with puppies at a home on South Shore Road. Richard Piirainen began searching for his daughter when she did not return, and he then discovered her left sneaker on South Shore Road. An extensive search by local and state police and sheriff’s departments, with help from Connecticut and Rhode Island units, did not bear results. On Oct. 23, hunters discovered Holly’s skeletal remains in a wooded area off Five Bridge Road in Brimfield. State Police photographed and investigated the scene. Any items found at and near the scene were confiscated by the State Police. Police have continued to investigate Holly’s death and disappearance, and to review evidence necessary for forensic analysis and testing.

State Sen. Stephen Brewer and State Rep. Todd Smola are offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Information can be called in to the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit at 413-505-5933, or people can text-a-tip to 274637, beginning with the word “Solve.”

Police confirm that two people were shot in an Allston apartment on the third floor of  15 Chester Street, according to Universal Hub.

The shooting happened around 10 p.m. on Friday night and both victims have been taken to Boston area hospitals, reports Fox 25. There are no reports on their statuses.

Police have found at least  6 bullet casings in the apartment, according to the Universal Hub.

More to come as the case develops.

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – On Tuesday morning, a Lee County Deputy Sheriff shot and killed a fugitive who had fled from New Hampshire after the fugitive brandished a firearm at officers.

Joseph Cleary, 22, from Rochester, New Hampshire was wanted for failing to follow the conditions of his probation and bail in connection to being convicted of serious assault with a knife in 2008 in Barrington, N.H.

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in New Hampshire informed the Florida bureau of information they attained that suggested Cleary was residing in Cape Coral. At around 11:15 a.m. law enforcement spotted Cleary in a window and ordered him to surrender. Cleary ignored the officers’ command and fled deeper into the house.

Authorities entered the residence and found Cleary in a bedroom where the fugitive and law enforcement exchanged gunfire and Cleary was killed.

Cleary was released from jail and put on probation in July 2008. He was given another jail sentence for violating probation after knives were found in his home in October 2008, reported Foster’s Daily Democrat.

John Murphy (right) speaks to crowds in Harvard Square during an October rally. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

BLAST: Who are you?

JOHN MURPHY: Murph. I’m 24, from Boston, union carpenter, student at community college.

BLAST: What do you do?

JM: Making sure the movement moves forward. Putting a foot to people’s asses when need be. Simple as that. I would rather be part of history than read about it.

BLAST: What’s your gripe?

JM: I’m involved with the Occupy movement because Americans like to believe and claim that America is number one. But any educated human knows that is false. The US fails in healthcare and education, which are are two most important things any developed nation needs to move forward. Hopefully this movement wakes Americans up and makes them realize the US is only 5% of the world’s population, not 99% of the population. With that, hopefully, more people will realize that the US dictates how other nations should run. The US truly does police the world; that needs to end.

BLAST: Share a memory?

JM: Too many.

BLAST: What’s next?

JM: We move into a warehouse, or office, or open indoor space. In 2016, Occupy will occupy every local, state, and national branch of our government.

Al Suarez, Farhad Ebrahimi and Noah McKenna minutes before arrest on December 10. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

BLAST: Who are you?

AL SUAREZ: My name is Alexander Suarez. Most people on camp called me Al. My hometown is Boston. I’m 27, unemployed. I’m one of the 46 arrested December 10th at the camp, and one of the 25 first arraigned, and one of the 8 of them who plead not guilty and did not accept the deal.

BLAST: What do you do?

AS: On camp I worked with both media group and safety group. One of the reasons safety group was important is because outsiders would sometimes come into camp and seemed like they might hurt people. Media group is important because the mainstrem media is biased. We need to have our own voice.

BLAST: What’s your gripe?

AS: They’re taking our rights bit by bit. I’m involved with Occupy for a better future for our children.

BLAST: Share a memory?

AS: One of my best memories on camp is when I spoke at the GA [General Assembly] for the first time. I got to tell people I came from the camp in Vermont which was shutdown. And I got to tell them how much I admired the fact the Boston camp was still around in spite of what happened there and in NYC, that things were still working in Boston. I told the crowd that we must work together for a new society.

Guy Fawkes mask worn by Occupy Boston protestor the weekend of the October 11 raid in which Boston Police arrested 141 people and removed tents that had been erected in one of the Fort Point Channel Parks. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

A document faxed from One Bullfinch Place to the Twitter offices in San Francisco Friday details a subpoena “Pursuant to an official criminal investigation being conducted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s and the Boston Police Department” filed by the DA’s office Special Prosecutions Unit. Dated December 14, the subpoena is signed by Benjamin Goldberger, Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County (the county of Massachusetts that corresponds to the city of Boston).

The subpoena requests “available subscriber information, for the account or accounts associated with the following information, including IP address logs for account creation” but, inexplicably, includes not only account names, but also hashtags and a term which is neither account name nor hashtag. The “accounts” which Goldberger has subpoenaed about are Guido Fawkes, @p0isAn0n, @OccupyBoston, #BostonPD and #d0xcak3. “Guido Fawkes” appears to be a reference to Guy Fawkes, the stylized mask of whom has come to be associated with the hacker group “Anonymous.” That same group might be referenced in the “@p0isAn0n” user name. “#d0xcak3” seems to be a reference to “doxing” i.e. releasing personal information about people over the Internet.

Doxing, per se, is generally legal although the information presented is sometimes obtained via illegal means, such as hacking. In October, along with data from the International Association of Chief of Police website, Anonymous revealed 1000 names and passwords from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. A press release attributed to Anonymous explained, “We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis.”

Despite speculation on Twitter and elsewhere that the subpoena is connected to the well-publicized doxing of the Boston Police in October, the subpoena signed by Goldberger asks for information from December 8, 2011 to December 13, 2011 – a time frame that includes Occupy Boston’s December 10 eviction from Dewey Square. The fact that the subpoena is dated December 14 seems to offer evidence that it is unrelated to a more recent and less-publicized Boston Police doxing that either occurred or was republished on December 15.

Besides the fact that hashtags and the phrase “Guido Fawkes” appear to have been mistaken for account names, confusion has been fueled by the fact that @OccupyBoston is an inactive account with little connection to the activists who recently occupied Dewey Square for ten weeks. @Occupy_Boston is the main Twitter account used by Occupy Boston while other handles (@OccupyBostonDA, @OccupyBostonSigns, @OccupyBostonFSU, @OBFacilitation, etc.) are used by Occupy Boston’s various working groups.

BLAST: Who are you?

NICOLE SULLIVAN: Well, it depends who you ask. First, important demographics: I am a twenty one year old queer women living in Somerville and going to school at a local community college. I have been involved in activism for over a year, I started with anti-rape activism (I am survivor of multiple assaults). I grew up in an upper middle class family, graduated with honors from a top notch private high school and was homeless by the time I was 19. I didn’t use drugs. I was working and in college. I became severely ill from an assault at 18, did not have familial support and the burden was not something I was able to carry. I managed to work my way out of poverty and am now back in school.

Basically, I am someone who has been on both sides of the fence. I’ve seen the amazing privileges that come from being born into the right family and having some modicum of wealth and I’ve seen the incredible hardship of living within a system that is stacked against the average person. I’ve been a hard worker most of my life, it wasn’t that I hit eighteen and became lazy or dumb or an addict. It was just once I lost the backbone of wealth, it did not matter how hard I worked. There is no way to win.

BLAST: What do you do?

NS: At Occupy, I do quite a few things. I am in several action oriented groups such as Direct Action and street teams. I believe that doing actions is the only way to create change. Its like that cliché, “actions speak louder than words.” The fact that Occupy is so action oriented is why I joined. I was sick of talking about things, I wanted change I am also in a couple of outreach groups – outreach and movement building – where we reach out into the Boston community to try to get really grounded in community issues and to bring our message out to the masses. I also do a lot of anti-oppression work. I came into activism through feminism and I see everything from an anti-oppressive standpoint. I fully believe that we need to include the full 99% percent to be a mass movement so the anti-oppression working groups I am in seek to create a space to do that. I also participate in more infrastructure related groups, such as in reach which works on internal communication. Occupy Boston keeps me pretty busy.

BLAST: What’s your gripe?

NS: Well, I could go for a long while about corporate control of our economy and government, income disparity and the like. Those are facets of why I am here. However, for me, there is something much deeper. At the heart of things, I just expect more. I expect more of my government. I expect more of my communities. I expect more of my neighbors. We can be better than mass poverty, income disparity, greed. We can be so much better. We deserve to be better than this. I think it is the very basis of our country, this idea of expecting more. It has gotten lost amid mass apathy and misinformation. For a while, I thought everyone had just given up. Occupy proves me wrong in the best way.

BLAST: Share a memory?

NS: There are so many. One that will always stick with me is the night of the first mass arrest on Columbus Day. I was part of the line defending the expansion camp when the police through us. There were screams, I saw my friends get hurt. I was extraordinarily scared. Then, I looked around. Everyone was scared, the girl next to me was shaking – but none of us were leaving. We were all here to do what was right. I didn’t even know half of the 141 people who were arrested, but it didn’t matter. In that moment, we were all much bigger than individuals. It was a unity I had never seen before in my life.

BLAST: What’s next?

NS: So much. The past two months were barely the beginning. We’re just getting started.

Elizabeth Holmes (left) and other Boston occupiers in Harvard Square on October 23 (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

BLAST: Who are you?

ELIZABETH HOLMES: Who am I? I’m Elizabeth, also known as Mom or Eli.

BLAST: What do you do?

EH: I am a part of medical, safety, wellness, legal and jail support; was in media and direct action.

BLAST: What’s your gripe?

EH: I’m tired of hearing that there are people starving, not receiving (and being billed for) medical care, without a shelter, without quality education. I work in the hemophilia community and teach; several of my gripes come from my experience in both the medical and education fields. Everyone will have access to free quality comprehensive care and free quality education. I’m not sure how that’ll happen but that’s why I’m involved in Occupy.

BLAST: Share a memory?

EH: I walked out of the medical tent at “Take Back the Capital” [in Washington, DC] grumbling about not being able to volunteer there and ran into a bunch of Occupiers mic checking about co-option. It was like running into my long lost family members at the mall.

BLAST: What’s next?

EH: I’m working on a few projects – comprehensive care training for occupations, supply acquisition solution so we can stop spending money, getting medical training to some Occupied Farms, a free comprehensive care clinic in Boston. I’m traveling and am currently at Occupy Wall Street doing research and completing apprenticeship-type experiences. I plan to bring this knowledge back to Boston and then travel about the US with a friend from Occupy LA.

November 19 – Awaiting the release of follow occupier “Ping Pong” from a South Boston police station, Mike Kostigan (center) reads while fellow occupiers sleep. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

BLAST: Who are you?

MIKE KOSTIGEN: I’m 22, Born and raised in Boston. Sailing Instructor. Former Marine Transportation major, transferring to study history.

BLAST: What do you do?

MK: Within Occupy Boston I work with the Direct Action working group. We help to plan marches, as well as try to keep everyone safe during the marches. We also help to coordinate different relevant trainings. Within my Affinity Group (a group of 6-12 people who you really really trust) I helped to build and maintain our sleeping quarters. We had one of the best sleeping areas within the camp. We had two tents, a porch, couches, bike generators and lighting. We all worked hard to build that place, and it showed in that it was one of the last tents standing.

BLAST: What’s your gripe?

MK: I have a laundry list of gripes with the state of our country today. The problem is, I, as a working class person, have no other method left to have my concerns heard.

BLAST: Share a memory?

MK: I have two favorite memories of Dewey Square. One was the second night. We had a big tent, and the next thing we knew the entire immediate neighborhood was over playing music and debating politics. Debate is almost the wrong word because even though we all has staunchly different views we all stayed up until at least 3 a.m. .talking about why we came to those ideas, and even if we disagreed we respected each others opinions and more importantly we gained more respect for each other. The other favorite memory is one I don’t really remember, but sometime along the way my affinity group came to the realization that we were no longer just friends, we had become the single most loving and dysfunctional family the world has ever seen.

BLAST: What’s next?

MK: As for the future there are a lot of plans. Most people agree that we need to hold out for the spring. Immediate plans are to get a home base, housing for everyone, and then plan for the American Spring which is only a few months away.

King Mel is a long-time Boston community activist and civil rights leader who served as State Representative and ran for Mayor of Boston in 1982.

Early in his career, he was a vocal organizer of a 1968 protest in which neighborhood activists erected a tent city in a parking lot where the Boston Redevelopment Authority planned to build a garage. For three days, countless people funneled through the festive shantytown for free food, free music and radical political discussion. When a housing development, not a garage, was built on the site it was named “Tent City” in honor of the activists’ encampment.

Speaking at a small gathering at encuentro5 (a space in Chinatown for community and progressive groups) a week before Occupy Boston’s eviction from Dewey Square, Mel King praised Occupy Boston and drew parallel’s between it and the 1968 Tent City he helped create.

King told the Boston occupiers, “You have the right to alter and change. You have that right. You are deserving, and no change comes to any individual or group until they assert themselves that they are deserving…Your message is getting into people’s minds and you’re saying ‘we are deserving.’” Waving in his hand the second issue of “The Boston Occupier” (the local counterpart to the “Occupy Wall Street Journal”) King added, “You have the right to revolution.”

Full 8 minute video of Mel King’s speech to Occupy Boston:

Former Revere police officer, Todd Randall, was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI during questioning about a public corruption investigation.

Randall, 40, was sentenced to four months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, during which he must stay away from drugs, alcohol and weapons, and undergo substance abuse and mental health treatment according to the Boston Globe.

The defendant met with an FBI cooperating witness back in January 2010 and accepted $200 in exchange for Randall’s help in compromising a  pending case in state court for the witness’ friend. On the same day, officials observed Randall going to the home of the cooperating witness while he was on duty (in uniform and driving a marked police vehicle).  He then was seen and photographed exiting the cruiser and entering the home of the witness.

In March 2011, Randall was questioned by FBI agents regarding his relationship with the witness and the friend,  and his involvement in trying to flub the case.  Randall falsely denied knowing any of the aforementioned parties, and denied accepting money.  The defendant was questioned twice and warned that lying to the agents was a federal crime.

“I have no reason to lie to ya fellas,” Randall told the agents.

The former officer was also involved in a tussle with a community blogger in Septemer when he smacked the blogger in the head at a Dunkin’ Donuts.  The initial blow led to a brawl, from which Randall found himself smacked with more criminal charges.

Randall’s sentence will begin on January 30.

On Monday, an associate of the organized crime group, La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release, according to an FBI press release.

Thomas Iafrate, 70, of Johnston, R.I., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and admitted he was an associate of the New England La Cosa Nostra.

The defendant was an associate to the gang while he worked as a bookkeeper for multiple adult entertainment businesses in Providence, including Satin Doll, Cadillac Lounge and Northeast Sales.  He participated in  racketeering conspiracies when he set aside and delivered extortion payments to other LCN members, including his co-defendant Luigi Manocchio.

Iafrate’s conviction was a part of a sting including four alleged members and associates of the gang, including an alleged former boss, that happened in March.

Richard Bonafiglia and Theodore Cardillo are also charged with racketeering conspiracy and extortion conspiracy.  A second superseding indictment in September charged Edward Lato, Alfred Scivola, Raymond Jenkins and Albino Folcarelli with participation in LCN.

Editor’s note: John Stephen Dwyer, a contributing editor for Blast, has been writing about Occupy Boston and spending several nights a week in Dewey Square since the protest began on September 30. He also reports on Occupy Harvard, the protest that began on November 9 and continues behind the locked and guarded gates of Harvard Yard.

At 5 a.m. Saturday morning, hundreds of Boston Police officers converged on Dewey Square Park to evict the Occupy Boston tent community that was established on September 30 and had become the oldest standing Occupy encampment in the US.

Arrests began with almost three dozen activists, who sat down in the area used for the General Assembly and locked their arms in defiance. Shortly before 5:40 a.m., police arrested five more men who placed themselves on the ground in front of a front-end loader parked on Atlantic Ave on the opposite side of Summer Street. Things were relatively calm from then until just after 6:30 a.m., when four women bolted into the center of the intersection, sat down, and were arrested as well.

A total of 46 arrests were reported — 32 men and 14 women.

Overall, the morning up to the raid was characterized by warm sentiments between activists and uncertainty about how (but not if) Occupy Boston would carry on once the encampment was leveled. When the raid finally took place two hours before dawn, there was no riot gear worn, no tear gas or pepper spray used, and no angry-faced police thrusting or swinging their truncheons at non-violent protestors. Rather, it was clear many people on both sides of the arrest had a certain amount of respect for one another and, in some cases, were even on a friendly, first-name basis.

Emotional denouement

Although close to 2,000 people gathered around Dewey Square in the early hours of Friday morning in anticipation of a police raid, probably less than two hundred were present Saturday morning to witness the final hours of the Occupy Boston encampment. The atmosphere was one of sentimental camaraderie and triumph with relatively few indications of sadness or anxiety about the looming eviction. People who customarily bumped fists exchanged hugs instead. Looking for words for what they were feeling, they talked about one another as “brothers” and “sisters.”

With tense anticipation in the air, Bill the Medic lightened the mood of both police and protestors with a hand-made sign (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Around 1 a.m., a couple dozen people gathered in a circle on Dewey Square Plaza, the paved area just outside the entrance to Dewey Square Park. Not disturbed by the noise of heavy traffic or the din of a large crowd, they took turns speaking but didn’t need to rely upon the call and response of the people’s mic. The majority spoke in emotional terms about the transformative experience of being part of Occupy Boston for ten weeks and, in particular, about the friends they had made. Many said that the movement would outlive the encampment but no one dwelt on that point. It was, by this time, a common understanding that no one in Occupy Boston openly voiced doubts about.

Bill, an amiable member of the Medic Team popular with both protestors and police, approached the circle wearing his familiar blue vest with reflective patches and the letters “EMT” on the back. In one hand, he held a cigarette and a can of orange soda, in the other hand, a sign saying “medics want to go home / please start the raid.” His snowy-white goatee framed a grin. Pointing towards his sign, he made patrolmen smile, too, by kidding them about not doing their jobs. Protestors also chuckled at his sign, one murmuring to a comrade “Seriously. The wait is worse than anything.”

Balloon-gate

A while later, some young men and women began unfolding a huge, parachute-like sack of material they had somehow smuggled into camp. This tent-like structure was designed to be held up by wind, but they didn’t have success in erecting it in the General Assembly area. Patrolmen told them to end their efforts, but they didn’t speak with convincing authority or urgency. Gently teasing the cops, protestors joked about “balloon-gate” as a reference to the more tense and serious “sinkgate” incident of December 1 when police seized a sink and arrests were made.

Playfully defying the police still further, people grabbed the fabric and ran down the gravel path (briefly labeled “Sacco and Vanzetti Avenue” in mid-October but more recently adorned with a sturdy wooden signpost reading “Thoreau-fair St.”) until the light material caught enough breeze to partially inflate. A group of friends entered it, playfully laughing and joking about “occupy the balloon.” Police let them have some fun before insisting it be rolled back up because no new structures were being allowed.

Jacks attacked

The arrest of this man accused of striking a female activist in the face spurred a round of jests about how "white guys in suits" should be profiled as dangerous individuals. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

A while later, shouts were heard from Atlantic Avenue and dozens of people on camp ran to investigate. But instead of discovering that the raid had begun, they found police arresting a man in a white shirt and suit coat alleged to have followed, insulted and assaulted Robin Jacks — better known as @caulkthewagon, prominent representative of Occupy Boston’s tongue-in-cheek “Twitter Working Group.” After the man was arrested, Jacks hugged Detective Sergeant Jim O’Connor (a familiar plainclothes officer who had recently added a “I am the 99 percent” button to his outerwear) in gratitude.

When Jacks told her tale of ordeal to fellow activists and asked for a “temperature check” on the Boston Police, she received a positive consensus of “twinkle fingers” (the same hands-up, finger wiggling gesture used in American Sign Language to indicate applause) from the crowd. Elsewhere in camp, a stalwart who boasted about defending his tent (but ended up fleeing anyway when police arrived) had erected a small sign saying “no pigs allowed.” Reaction to it was primarily negative.

Police move in

As it got close to 5 a.m., few thought a raid was imminent and most expected the raid wouldn’t happen until Sunday morning. Robin Jacks, sharing her thoughts about the situation, said “It’s been a waiting game, not really knowing what’s happening. Seeing a lot of people here. That’s good. I mean, for an overnight, this is a lot of people, especially people who are out and active and not just people sleeping. Usually if you were to come here at this point on a Friday night, It’d be dead. Just Safety would be out. So, it’s been nice…[seeing] people I haven’t seen in a while. It’s been nice. I might go home and get some Z’s in like 15 minutes.”

Defiantly seated in the same area that Occupy Boston held its General Assemblies, these activists mic checked various messages before being arrested. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Holding an icepack to her face, she then described how she was attacked earlier in the night but was interrupted by the calm voice of her girlfriend, Meghann Sheridan, saying, “Robin, it’s happening” and the raspy voice of Alex “Troll” De Luca shouting “form up!” a split second later. Her head turning, Jacks said “shit” as she ran to see dozens of police vehicles — including prisoner transport vehicles and the white vans of the Special Operations Unit — coming down Atlantic Avenue.

Police, mostly in yellow vests or coats, lined up along Atlantic Ave spacing themselves at arms’ length away from one another as both similarly-dressed patrolmen and black-garbed Special Ops police approached from Summer Street. Soon Captain Bernard O’Rourke, the tall and stern-faced head of District A-1 who has been present at most of Occupy Boston’s marches and direct actions, walked through the camp with a megaphone, sometimes stopping to point it at a tent while saying, “Good morning. This is the Boston Police Department. You are trespassing on Greenway property. If you do not leave the park you will be subject to arrest.”

O’Rourke didn’t respond when a male voice coming from a tent asked how long would be given to collect his belongings but rather continued walking, repeating the above message, and adding, “Please leave the park in the direction of Summer Street and South Station.” Approaching the Medical Tent, O’Rourke gave his direction, “…leave in the direction of South Station, towards Summer Street, please,” without electronic amplification.

Walking along the path of what had been called “Main Street,” O’Rourke resumed his use of the megaphone while adding “…take your property with you” to his message. As a confused camper exited his camp O’Rourke pointed and said, “Go out towards South Station. You don’t want to be arrested.” Lifting the megaphone again, he urged haste saying “Let’s go, guys. Let’s go, gents. Head towards South Station, you won’t be arrested. Head towards South Station, you will not be arrested. Let’s go.”

The Stand-off

Then, coming from the North side of the park, came the call-and-response of the people’s mic and the defiant Occupy chant, “Show me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like!” The noise was originating from the General Assembly area where the occupation had held its horizontally democratic meetings — many long and fairly boring, others long and filled with drama too overblown for film or stage. Now, some three dozen activist sat, facing Atlantic Avenue, on the zigzag paving stones. They locked arms, a gesture understood by many to invite a charge of unlawful assembly or, even, resisting arrest.

Jose, a sometimes member of the Safety Team evicted from a different area of the camp, was dragged out as he swore and complained about not being able to put on his shoes before arrest. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

When asked what would happen to their remaining tents and other property, Superintendent William Evans — the small-built police official who had walked through Dewey Square building relationships with protestors almost daily — answered them through a megaphone saying, “We’re going to throw it away…unfortunately…so if you have property, if you have valuables, anything that might disappear, please get it….we don’t want confrontation.”

John Ford questioned Evans further. Ford, with auburn sideburns and military surplus clothing, is the ever-impassioned “library guy” and “safety guy” whose larger-than-life personality caused a writer for “The Nation” to say, “it’s clear that he’s the de facto leader of Occupy Boston.” This statement ruffled many feathers among the devoutly leaderless occupiers of Dewey Square. Ford’s too. But it didn’t cost him any respect among the many people who rely upon his help, council and ability to, as he puts in, “to do things that need to be done. It’s not that hard. Fuck.”

Ford – who fought at Thursday’s General Assembly for the idea that Occupy Boston might leave the park better than it was found – asked Evans to give occupiers until morning to clean the camp themselves if they promised to leave. “We’ve given you two days to get your stuff out, John,” Evans replied, “No, John, We’ve given you two days. Alright? You had plenty of time. You work with us; I know you tried to help. But people have chosen to stay. If that’s what their choice is, unfortunately…”

Interrupted by Ford’s insistent pleas, Evan’s amplified voice stammering a bit saying, “you guys…want to get arrested. We’re doing this nicely as possible, Alright? Please. We don’t want to have to force on anyone or anyone hurt. Alright? We’re gonna use as least force as we have to. Alright? So please. Go easily, if you can.”

Behind this scene, among the many police assembled, a protestor stood with a wooden sign that had been displayed prominently in Dewey Square since early October. Its square, black letters on a white background spelled out a phrase used by many occupiers with military or law enforcement experience. It read, “I took an oath to defend the Constitution / So here I am!”

Parting mic checks

Waiting for arrest, a male occupier shouted for and got the people’s mic. He then yelled, “the officers…are enforcing…the law…in the past…people have…stood up against…laws…so their voice…could be heard…It’s sad…that this…is what it took…for us…to get our voice…but now…we have a voice…and we’re not going to…shut up…we are relevant…listen to us!”

Seconds later, a female occupier mic checked saying, “we have a right…to assemble…it is not up to them…to tell us when…to stop assembling!” Another male voice, mic checking as well, complained that the press had been pushed too far back to record what transpired. A fourth voice, belonging to a person holding a camera and weaving between the police, assured his comrades that the live stream was broadcasting it and had thousand of viewers. Someone yelled, happily, “Thank you, Internet!”

Ford spoke again, standing, mic checking, and calling to his fellows “I am now…going to protest…[using] my individual right here…to not give them my [bail?] money…I have given you my sweat…my blood…my tears…my advice…but I will not give you any here…that’s what I will say…’you will not get another dime from me today’…but I’m right here.” He walked away down Atlantic Avenue, head characteristically bowed, fists characteristically clenched. It looked like he was leaving but returned after passing his car keys off to Robin Jacks and was arrested along with his comrades.

Al Suarez, an activist who had joined Occupy Boston after the Occupy Burlington encampment was leveled by police, had rushed back from the “Take Back the Capitol” action in Washington, DC when he heard Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s ominous words about a midnight Thursday deadline. Suarez mic checked, “I’d like to give a shout out…to Occupy Vermont…we were shut down then…this time…I’m ready to be arrested…for my country…and for the future of this country…for all of our children.”

Another man, indicating that many occupiers called Dewey Square home and had no where else to go to, mic checked, “how do you think…Menino would feel…if we took his home…out from under his feet…and threw all his things away?…He’d sing a whole different song!”

Air Force vet Alex Ingram yelled his mic check so loud it forced the molassasy twang from his thick Georgia accent as he declared, “We are all witnesses…we were witnesses when…they were taking homes…we were witnesses when…the financial system collapsed…we were witness when…we watched other Occupys across the country…taken down one by one…and tonight…we are witnesses…to solidarity…as long as our eyes and ears are open…we will be a witness…to the good…and the evil…through all the world.”

A woman’s mic check, her voice possessing less volume but no less message than her male comrades, declared, “what does…President Obama…have to say…about the over 4,000…arrests of…peaceful assembly…in the United States…when he encouraged….assembly in…Tahrir…Hamas, Syria…Bahrain…Yemen…Tunisia…and Libya…why are they…getting more support from him…than we are?”

Arrests and dismantling of the camp

The flag on the left was added to this display by Sgt. Robert Merner, Boston Police officer who rescued if after it had fallen on muddy ground in a different area of Dewey Square. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Their combined voices booming, the demonstrators call-and-response chanted “from Mattapan to Allston…Occupy Boston!” again and again as sanitation workers and police began dismantling tents and throwing them into a garbage truck. Arriving on site, Commissioner Ed Davis told reporters “…just some arrests being made, that’s all” and wouldn’t say much else.

Among these uniformed men and woman was Sgt. Robert Merner, an officer with a shaved head who was around Dewey Square all the time for the first month and a half or so of the occupation. Merner took a small flag that had fallen off a tent and carried it over to where the fire extinguisher near the sign tent once rested. He planted the flag at eye level, displaying it next to an identical one atop a sign reading “Occupy is the highest form of patriotism.” But this tableau, too, eventually made it into the trash truck. Whether the flags were ultimately rescued or just tossed in with the rest isn’t known.

As press was lined up on Atlantic Avenue waiting for those arrested to be filed past their cameras, some occupiers felt it was the bankers, not the people protesting corruption, who deserved a perp walk. “We are not here,” said the people’s mic, “for a publicity stunt…we are here…to voice our voices!” Perhaps in reaction to this, or perhaps as part of a plan to avoid media scrutiny, the police backed their transport vehicles into the General Assembly area, loaded them with hand-tied protestors, then drove them away.

Captain Bernard O'Rourke (right), a frequent presence at Occupy Boston events, displayed stern demeanor on Monday when occupiers attempted to bring a winter-proof tent into Dewey Square. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, speaking less than 24 hours after Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre lifted a restraining order that kept the city from raiding Occupy Boston’s tent city at Dewey Square Park, seems to have issued an ultimatum to the activists by saying “We’re going to ask the occupants of Dewey Square to be out there by midnight … [or] we’ll take further action.”

Occupy Boston encamped across from South Station on September 30. It’s now the longest-running “physical occupation” in the US but activists often assert that occupations — including Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Denver and Occupy Los Angeles — are actually communities of people rather than the physical spaces in which they congregate or set up tents.

Today Dewey Square is busy with activity as people move valuable items – such as supplies stored in the Food Tent and books kept in the Library Tent – to safe locations away from the encampment. Many activists involved with Occupy Boston are trying to return from the union-backed actions in Washington, DC where they arrived by bus Monday afternoon. On the home front, many Occupy Boston activists enrolled in college classes are struggling to concentrate on final exams or term papers today but have pledged to be in Dewey Square by midnight.

Occupy Boston posted the following statement today at OccupyBoston.org:

This morning, Mayor Menino issued a midnight deadline for Occupy Boston to leave the Greenway. The articulated threat of eviction is a clear and present danger to the community we have built over the past ten weeks. We came to Dewey Square to practice true democracy and give visibility to injustice; we came to see if we could not–in providing for basic needs–maintain a standing indictment against their enforced deprivation within our broader community. With this commitment came hard evidence of economic suffering, evidence that we present at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve along with our democracy, our songs and our chants that echo daily through the financial canyon. Today, the city threatens that community. It threatens the library, where we hold our classes and discuss ideas. It threatens our food tent, which has served thousands of people many more thousands of meals. It threatens our medical tent, which has provided treatment and care to the sick and to the injured. Not only these, it threatens the lives of those of us who have no place else to go. The city has cited concern for our safety as the reason for forcing us back into the streets. But make no mistake; the city’s concern for our safety will disperse when we do. We have therefore taken steps to ensure the safety of the infrastructure we have built, and to protect the most vulnerable among us in the event of the eviction. We are taking down the food tent, the medical tent, packing up our logistics supplies for safe-keeping and working with social service providers and other allies to secure shelter for our brothers and sisters most likely to experience homelessness if and when the city throws away their tents. We take action–today and always–in the name of economic and political justice, freedom of expression and our entire community.

Chris Ott from ACLU of Massachusetts sent out an email today with a message from the ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild which said,in part:

“Across the country, even people who have not been sympathetic to the Occupy movement have been shocked by images of the force used against peaceful protestors, including beatings, and the use of pepper spray. Mayor Menino’s announcement today has ensured nationwide attention for whatever happens next in Boston. We call on the City to show restraint and not repeat the mistakes made by carrying out heavy-handed crackdowns. If the City feels it must act, it at least has the responsibility to ensure a peaceful transition. Midnight deadlines and actions taken suddenly or under cover of darkness are rash and unhelpful. Boston, as part of the long New England tradition of town meeting and grassroots democracy, has an important role to play again in how it responds to Occupy Boston. We believe that Boston can – and must – set an example for the entire nation in protecting the rights of Occupy Boston participants, and the many other concerned citizens they represent.”

Gunner Scott, a well-known transgender activist involved with the Media Working Group at Occupy Boston since its establishment, told Blast, “I think the judge did not grasp the reality that free speech cannot be zoned, that a 24 hour protest is possible and that it is protected by the first amendment.”

Sage Radachowsky, an activist involved with both Occupy Boston and Occupy Harvard, expressed a different perspective in saying, “We are breaking the law. This is civil disobedience. We are breaking a law to show that we care immensely about the issues that we are raising. We should never have gone to court. We should have admitted that we are breaking laws, and for good reason. To protest the way that our economy has been gutted by a huge bailout to banks who got paid for ruining our economy, and against an undemocratic political landscape in which some people sleep on cardboard while others sleep in five homes.”

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has issued an ultimatum to Occupy Boston Protesters: Leave by midnight, or the city will force you out.

The news comes just a day after a Suffolk Superior Court judge lifted a restraining order that kept the city from raiding the tent city at Dewey Square.

The ultimatum brings a likely end to the country’s longest-running occupation and sets up an equally likely late night conflict with Boston police today.

At least 20 arrests were reported Wednesday in connection with an Occupy-related march in Washington D.C.

Urszula Masny-Latos of the Massachusetts Chapter of National Lawyers Guild wrote at 5 p.m. that at least four people from Occupy Boston were among those arrested. Another source said that at least two are known to be associated with Direct Action, the working group within Occupy Boston that organized demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience.

Dozens of Occupy Boston denizens went down to Washington to attend the “Take Back The Capitol” march organized by labor unions.

The Sacred Space tent at Occupy Boston, now the oldest Occupy encampment still standing in the United States. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

According to McIntyre, “the injunction is denied because, while Occupy Boston protesters may be exercising their expressive rights during the protest, they have no privilege under the First Amendment to seize and hold the land on which they sit.”

With visibility blocked by umbrellas and cameras, the general mood of the assembly was one of excitement and resolve rather than panic. Many reported that connections within the Boston Police Department said that no raid would take place last tonight. Ben Wish, a lawyer for Occupy Boston speaking at the General Assembly, assured those assembled that no police action will be taken immediately. But others, especially non-locals, sent different reports. @RyanRiceLA, for example, tweeted “#OccupyBoston has SWAT staging 4 raid” and @Occupy_PolicePolice wrote “ALERT! Spec Ops Staging in BOSTON NOW!”

The city stated clearly on Wednesday that no police action was imminent.

In the wake of the decision, a spokesperson for Mayor Thomas Menino’s office said:

“We are pleased with Judge McIntyre’s strong decision to repeal the restraining order that prohibited the City of Boston from removing the Occupy Boston camp at Dewey Square. We applaud the judge for clearly recognizing the City’s authority to protect all of our residents, including those currently at Dewey Square. Our first priority has always been and will always be to ensure the public’s health and safety. As outlined in the court proceeding and affirmed in the judge’s ruling, the conditions at Dewey Square have deteriorated significantly and pose very real health and safety risks. The city strongly encourages the Occupy movement to abide by the Rose Kennedy Greenway regulations and remove their tents and refrain from camping in that area. Today’s decision provides clarity surrounding Occupy Boston’s status at Dewey Square and the city will act appropriately to fulfill our duty to preserve the public’s peace and safety.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the National Lawyers Guild-Massachusetts Chapter released a statement which said, in part:

“We are disappointed with today’s decision and are reviewing the decision with our clients to determine all their options. The Occupy Boston community is making a significant contribution to national discussion of important issues – not merely through what protestors are saying, but their modeling of an alternative to what they see as imbalances and injustices in our society. Just because the court ruled today that the city can shut down the encampment at Dewey Square does not mean that it should. As city officials have repeatedly – and recently – stated, there is no immediate need to remove Occupy Boston from Dewey Square. If city officials decide, nonetheless, to do so, how they go about it also sends an important message. Occupy Boston has always been a peaceful political protest, aimed at drawing attention to the growing inequalities in our society. At a minimum, Boston city officials and the police must exercise restraint and respect with regard to the Occupy Movement and the concerned citizens it represents attention devoted to Occupy sites, and most articles, per journalistic custom, restate the Occupy position…With the exception of the heavy-handed removal of demonstrators from the Rose Kennedy Greenway early in the morning on Oct. 11, Boston has already become a model of respect for freedom of speech to other cities around the country, where Occupy encampments have been broken up with levels of force that have even shocked people who were not involved in the Occupy movement or sympathetic to its aims. Boston, as part of the long New England tradition of town meeting and grassroots democracy, has an important role to play again in how it responds to today’s decision. We believe that Boston can – and must – set an example for the entire nation in protecting the rights of Occupy Boston participants.”

A activist who is the principle maintainer of the Sign Tent at Occupy Boston and uses the name “Guy Sands” when talking to the press explained, “I feel, personally, based on what the mayor has put out consistently, that they’re going to act within the near future to remove Occupy Boston from Dewey Square for violations that they won’t let Occupy Boston remedy.”

He added: “I feel this ruling is somewhat confusing in that the violence towards occupy seems to be the rational used to say that the ‘public’ doesn’t understand the message and that the police reaction is why she judges that Occupy Boston is not expressive speech. I also think the statement in ruling ‘There is scant evidence of how the occupation began’ is foolish due to the sheer number of media articles based in fact, reporting the entire occupation. I also feel that due to the Mayor, police superintendent, fire marshal, and code inspector all making statements about removing Occupy Boston have spoken for themselves regardless of the Mayor’s statement today that there is no plan in place to remove Occupy Boston.”

Speaking at the rainy and muddy General Assembly, Occupy Boston lawyer Ben Wish said he will appeal Judge McIntyre’s decision today. When he mentioned the possibility that Occupy Boston protest might move to the Harbor Islands – the only legal campground within city limits – the crowd responded with laughter. Jeff Fueur of the National Lawyers Guild, speaking at the same assembly, reiterated Wish’s belief that no raid will occur immediately.

Shortly before 4 p.m. today, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre lifted the temporary restraining order to protecting the Occupy Boston camp at Dewey Square from being raided or cleared out by the city.

In her decision she wrote, “Plaintiffs claim that their occupation of the site and the community they have established thereon are protected by the First Amendment. They seek a preliminary injunction against their removal by the defendants. But the injunction is denied because, while Occupy Boston protesters may be exercising their expressive rights during the protest, they have no privilege under the First Amendment to seize and hold the land on which they sit.”

The tent city established in Dewey Square Park is now the oldest Occupy encampment still standing. The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park was leveled by NYPD on November 15. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Dot Joyce, spokesperson for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said, “We are pleased that there is a decision that appears favorable to the city and that gives the city clarity on this issue.”

Sage Radachowsky, an activist well-known around Dewey Square, reacted saying, “I think this is underhanded. I think we can make ourselves safe if given time to do so. I don’t think they are letting us have the conversation with them that we need to have.”

He also said that while he and others were rushing to Dewey Square, children were being removed from camp for their safety in case of a raid by the Boston Police.

Several dozen inhabitants of the Occupy Boston encampment are currently away in Washington, DC to attend the “Take Back The Capitol” march organized by labor unions. When told about the lifting of the injunction in Boston, Kiean Michael Lyons — one of three protestors arrested at the Burger King across from Trinity Church in Copley Plaza on November 5 — commented via Facebook that “A few people from OB in DC are about to be arrested.” At least 20 arrests have been reported today in association with the DC march but it’s unknown if Occupy Boston activists are among them.

Although not as busy as it was in October, Occupy Boston still gets thousands of visitors a week. Most live locally, but others are activists associated with out-of-state occupations. Among those coming to Dewey Square recently was a group from Manchester, N.H. who mic checked Obama on November 22 and a person arriving from Burlington, Vt. to settle in Occupy Boston since the camp he came from no longer exists. Blast interviewed them both.

Occupy Manchester and Obama’s mic check

Paul Brochu, Nikki Brant, Elizabeth Grunewald and Ryan Hirsch were all involved with mic checking Obama during his recent appearance in Manchester. Hirsch was the person who later handed the president of the United States a note with a transcription of the message they tried to deliver.

The note read, “Mr. President: Over 4000 peaceful protestors have been arrested. While banks continue to destroy the economy with impunity. You must stop the assault on our 1st amendment rights. Your silence sends a message that police brutality is acceptable. Banks got bailed out. We got sold out.”

Describing the encounter, Hirsh said, “I was already right up there, and he looked like he was listening to the first part, but then his supporters started to drown us out and I was like, crap…he’s not even going to be able to hear this speech, he’s going to be able to say ‘I never heard it.’ So…[later] I handed it to him…it looks like I just shoved the note in his hand, but really as he was coming down the line to shake hands I was just like, ‘Hey, Mr. President, I just want to say I’m sorry for interrupting your speech…here’s a copy of your mic check.’ He grabbed it out of my hand, and actually he read it…he responded to it by saying…’I wouldn’t exactly say I’ve been silent on the issue, but I admit that I could be more vocal.’”

“That’s a pretty good response,” said Hirsch, “If he actually does do it, I will be impressed. He will gain a little bit of points with me. Probably not enough for me to vote for him. But he will gain some points…he handled it pretty graciously.” Hirsch also dispelled the notion that “nobody can get that close to the President, nobody can hand the President anything…I was just this dumb guy, Forrest Gump-ing his way up to the President…and everybody’s blowing it out of proportion like it’s this crazy, unprecedented thing…he doesn’t live in a bubble.”

Beth Grunewald described the mic check saying, “there were some other people from other occupations in New Hampshire, but I would say the majority was Manchester people.” Paul Brochu described how they practiced the mic check beforehand in an area with a high ceiling to determine how loud they were.

Occupy Burlington and the wake of tragedy

Al Suarez and some fellow activists from Vermont first visited Occupy Boston the weekend after Josh Pfenning, 35, a veteran living in the Occupy Burlington encampment, fatally shot himself with a handgun on November 10 thus prompting the dismantling of the tents shortly thereafter. After these visitors talked about the suicide in Occupy Boston’s library, Elizabeth Holmes, an Occupy Boston medic who has also spent time counseling rape victims at Occupy Wall Street, told them they needed to deal with that tragedy as individuals and as a community. The group had planned to stay in Boston for a few days but one member of that contingent, feeling threatened by what he perceived as gang activity in Dewey Square, insisted they leave early.

When Suarez, having no where else to go, returned to Occupy Boston recently he explained, “I’m here to stay this time.” He added, “unfortunately we couldn’t bring the [Burlington] camp back yet, and the cops have been after us, especially the homeless members…everybody knows each other at Burlington, so the cops are very discriminatory in their methods and the media is not very cooperative with us…we’re literally not occupying anything. We have [General Assemblies] at parks.”

Suarez, who has an online radio show, also describes “a very serious [homeless] shelter issue….because they’re overcrowded, they’re small shelters, we’re talking about Vermont here, so they’re small shelters…there’s a lot of people on the street. They’re going to suffer from extreme cold. They’re going to die from the cold…they’re treated like scum of the earth…they’re victims of society.”

Saying that half the people in the Occupy Burlington were homeless, Suarez attests, “just because they’re homeless doesn’t mean they’re there to hang out…they’re there because they’re activists like us. And I also became homeless when they closed out the camp…instead of being sensitive to these people who suffered a tragedy, ever since the tragedy’s happened a couple weeks ago, all [the police have] done is take advantage of it.”

Suarez also described the raid saying “they lured us into City Hall…then one of our fellow campers got a text saying they’re taking over the rest of our encampment, they’re taking over our teepee. They lured us there to talk, and then we ran out, and the cops came out ready to shoot tear gas and they started randomly detaining people.” He said events in which the mayor of Burlington was made to like a “hero” for helping to get a detainee released “didn’t exactly happen that way…there’s so many media distortions.”

Barney Frank, one of the first openly-gay politicians and one of Massachusetts’ most well-known politicians, announced he would not seek re-election.

Frank, who has usually coasted to re-election, has come under fire as chair of the House Banking Committee given the current state of the economy.

Massachusetts Republicans were quick to comment on his decision not to run again:

“It is clear that Congressman Frank was not looking forward to another hard fought campaign after losing his gerrymandered district and spending nearly every penny he had in 2010,” said Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Nate Little in a statement. “Republicans were already gearing up for a strong race and Frank’s sudden retirement injects added optimism and excitement into the election.”

Frank has been in office since 1981.

There will be no turkey and stuffing for some Occupy Boston protesters this Thanksgiving.  Instead, they will head to Plymouth for the National Day of Mourning.

The protesters will stand alongside Native Americans holding a prayer vigil for their slain ancestors.  At least 30 members of the movement went to the event.

Other protesters told the Boston Globe that they would either remain at Dewey Square or go spend the holiday with relatives who live nearby.

Editor’s note: John Stephen Dwyer, a contributing editor for Blast, has been writing about Occupy Boston and spending several nights a week in Dewey Square since the protest began on September 30.  He also reports on Occupy Harvard, the protest that began on November 9 and continues behind the locked and guarded gates of Harvard Yard.

CAMBRIDGE — On November 9, a group calling itself Occupy Harvard set up camp in Harvard Yard.  As the university has closed the gates to anyone without a Harvard ID, all of the occupiers are Harvard-affiliates (mostly students, plus some faculty and employees) and only a few have previous involvement with Occupy Boston or other occupations.  Their unofficial logo, as shown on the @Occupy_Harvard Twitter account, is the Harvard coat-of-arms with the word “Oc-cu-py” replacing “Ve-ri-tas” on the three open books.

They’ve been there more than two weeks.  Camille, a member of Occupy Harvard and a post-doctoral fellow who asked that her last name not be used, told Blast, “…we will be camping during Thanksgiving break. We will have our GA at the usual time (Thursday at 6pm) and will still be here next Monday.”

Tents and attention

The occupation has about 30 tents.  But unlike Occupy Boston, which supports dozens of people with no where else to go, no one can honestly call the Occupy Harvard encampment “home.” Instead, these tents are occupied between classes or other responsibilities — scholastic, social and otherwise.  Harvard’s occupiers donate considerable time to the business of the movement, and some do sleep in tents when they could be in beds just hundreds of feet away, but they make no claims about roughing it, much less mortification of the flesh.  The tents, say Occupy Harvard members, are a specific form of protest used as a gesture of solidarity with people living in poverty and with the Occupy Movement in general.

Idyllic compared compared to the ramshackle tent city of Occupy Boston, the cluster of tents in the Old Yard is new, clean, and safe at night under the constant gaze of both John Harvard’s statue and the Harvard Police.  The activists have the falling autumnal leaves of the Harvard elms and all the amenities of the university.  But undergrad and Occupy Harvard organizer Sandra Y. L. Korn shook her head at media accusations that the encampment consisted of Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean tents and answered “most of these tents cost forty-something bucks.”

But the tents aren’t the occupation, the people are.  Occupy Harvard has a decent-sized group of activists – around 100 – and they get attention.  They were featured in the national media just for walking out of a particular Economics class a week before they pitched tents in the Yard.  More recently, they stole the spotlight from Newt Gingrich when they mic checked the presidential hopeful at the Kennedy School and caused him to cancel a book signing at the Harvard Coop.  And they’re definitely on people’s mind around campus.  Last week, before “the Game,” student entrepreneurs having nothing to do with the protest were outside the Science Center selling $20 t-shirts that said “Occupy Yale” on one side and “We are the 6.2% (referring to Harvard College’s acceptance rate) on the other.

Harvard’s occupiers seem to have leveraged this attention effectively.  “Theoretical issues are important, but we here can make a difference in the next week in the lives of hundreds of janitors,” said Gabriel Bayard, 18, when the Occupy Harvard encamped on November 9.  Bayard’s prediction seemed to come true last week when SEIU Local 615, a union representing many of the janitors working at Harvard, avoided a strike and won a new, five-year labor contract with competitive wage increases and benefits improvements.

Closed gates

The shutting of Harvard’s gates has determined the character of the protest and the criticism made against it.  Whereas Occupy Boston has attracted all kinds of wild characters, the atmosphere at Occupy Harvard is calm and polite.  The occupiers are almost invariably well-groomed and articulate.  The donation jar took in $130 one day, most of it in $20 bills, and it didn’t disappear when no one had their eye on it.

It is, to use a word popular in Dewey Square, “bougy” (fancy, bourgeois).  Many holders of Harvard IDs have a decent shot of joining the 1% if they weren’t already born into it.  The occupiers in the Yard say this privilege – earned through hard work in many cases, inherited in others – gives them more obligation to try to fix the system rather than less.  Despite the difference in character between the two occupations, bad feelings towards Occupy Harvard seem absent at Occupy Boston; full-time inhabitants there tend to shrug and say “if they’re with us, great.” There’s also some overlap between the two groups, as well as a thread of associations starting with Harvard Divinity School students who went to Occupy Walls Street when it was new, formed the Protest Chaplins upon their return to Massachusetts, became involved with Occupy Boston, and now frequent the very civilized GA’s (General Assemblies) behind Harvard’s guarded gates.

Since no one can enter the Yard without ID, everyone who wanders by the Info Tent is a Harvard affiliate.  Faculty and students stop by in about equal proportion; Harvard employees seem less apt to approach the desk.  The vast majority of these are sympathetic to the demonstrators, although many have specific reservations or questions about the movement’s methods and goals.  Those opening their mouths in opposition to Occupy Harvard invariably complain about having to show ID at the gate (although investigation revealed less than a minute wait during the busiest time of day).

An Abercrombie-ish jock came by one afternoon, waving a petition for stop the University to crush the protest and open the gates.  And there’s a Hugh Grant-esque grad student and self-identified member of the 1% who has come by several times on his bicycle to troll the undergrads.  When told stopping a war with a million casualties was more important than not inconveniencing people at the gates he sniped “that’s your opinion.” Another time, he advised a Haitian freshman his people should be better cab drivers.  This comment from “Go home” left at OccupyHarvard.net is a good example of criticisms made against Occupy Harvard.  Minus the f word, it’s similar to gripes heard in the Yard itself:

Seriously just get the fuck out of Harvard Yard. The only thing you’ve done is taken a space that used to belong to ALL Harvard students and made it the property of the 1 percent of them that are dumb enough to think that this is actually making a difference…Stop pretending like you’re not eating in the dining halls, sneaking back to your dorms for hot showers and sleep, and attending classes. If you don’t like this place, leave. There are plenty of other students who would be happy to be here without disrupting everyone else.  Stop ruining the rest of the ’1 percent’s semester, go home.

Occupy Harvard members say publicly and privately that the closing of the gates seems like a university ploy to turn opinion against the occupiers.  “What Are They Afraid Of?” they ask on the website, “Occupy Harvard has repeatedly reached out to the administration to end its absurd lock down of the Yard, but has been continually rebuffed. We want the lockdown ended.” But there are dozens of homeless people in and around Harvard Square.  Homeless people – or “houseless people” in the lingo of some who call Dewey Square “home” – are a big part of many occupations in the United States.  The Harvard occupiers and their supporters can’t deny that opening the gates would, at least, change the character of Occupy Harvard overnight.

Open letters

Befitting a place of letters, much of the most important dialogue surrounding Occupy Harvard is done in writing.  Approaching the Info Tent, one might be offered a slip of paper that says:

We are here in solidarity with the Occupy Movement to protest the corporatization of higher education, epitomized by Harvard University.  We see injustice in the 180:1 ratio between the compensation of Harvard’s highest paid employee—the head of internal investments at Harvard management Company—and the lowest paid employee, an entry-level custodial worker.  We see injustice in Harvard adoption of corporate efficiency measures such as job outsourcing.  We see injustice in African land grabs that displace local farmers and devastate the environment.  We see injustice in Harvard’s investment in private equity firms such as HEI Hotels and Resorts, which profits off the backbreaking labor of a non-union immigrant workforce.  We see injustice in Harvard’s lack of financial transparency and its prevention of student and community voice in these investments

The letter goes on to suggest that “a university for the 99 percent would offer academic opportunities to assess responses to socioeconomic inequality outside the scope of mainstream economics.” While visitors from Occupy Wall Street sometimes note Occupy Boston has a academic, “college-town” flavor to it, precise and relatively complex language like this characterizes Occupy Harvard to an even greater degree.

Drew Faust , President of Harvard, released an open letter on Monday to “to share more fully some of the principles and realities that have informed our decisions and actions.” She wrote, “As President, I am deeply committed to freedom of expression: it is a fundamental university value, defining our most essential purposes.” But Faust also justified the lockdown saying:

Our concern about the safety of our students has been greatly influenced by our observations of the behavior of outsiders who participated in the demonstrations on Wednesday, November 9, as well as by web postings from individuals outside Harvard urging confrontation and disruption on our campus.  Several hundred people converged on the Harvard campus that night.  The conduct of many of them was deeply troubling.  Some attempted to enter the Yard by force, assaulted at least one Harvard police officer, grabbing his gun belt and stealing his radio.  The crowd included individuals who, according to external law enforcement agencies, have engaged in violent behavior elsewhere with the explicit goal of causing disruption and with little connection to any particular cause.  Incidents of violence–including shootings and sexual assaults–have occurred at other Occupy sites…Sustaining both freedom and security always requires difficult and nuanced judgments, both in a university and in the wider world.

The next day, in an “Open Letter to Drew Faust from Harvard Faculty,” faculty from several departments (Romance Languages and Literatures,  Comparative Literature, Linguistics) and the Committee on Degrees in the study of Women, Gender and Sexuality expressed their opposition to the decision to lock the gates of Harvard Yard.  The academics politely explained to Faust:

We sympathize with your difficult position, but all of us agree that locking the gates is contrary to the principle of open inquiry for which the university stands. Historically, Harvard has never locked its gates (at least, not in recent memory), and we believe that security issues can be addressed differently.  We do not share the perception that the Occupy movement constitutes a threat to Harvard. To the contrary, we are in sympathy with protests against increasing inequality in the United States and believe that Harvard should welcome discussions of the issue.

Wednesday brought another open letter to Faust, this one from Francis X. Clooney, a Jesuit priest at Harvard Divinity School who is Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology and Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions.  In it, Clooney writes, “Dear Drew…I’ve had occasion a number of times in the past few days to walk through the Yard, most recently tonight at 7pm, and observe our students and colleagues in their ‘occupy’ activity – which I might think is better called a Vigil of concern and for justice. Just a few comments.” He continues to refer to the occupation as a “Vigil” throughout the letter and said:

I realize that one of your responsibilities is to maintain order and security at the university, and care for the well-being particularly of those who reside in the Yard. Some security is therefore necessary, and I appreciate your care for this matter, as the Vigil proceeds. But even to me as a member of the Harvard community, who knows much of what is happening, the security seems unduly strict, disproportionate, unnecessary. Indeed, it would not be appropriate to allow everyone and anyone to camp out in the Yard, but nevertheless it is also for the well-being of the university to make clear, as I stated above, that those keeping Vigil are dear and welcome members of the community, some of our best, and not a security challenge. Monitor the site yes, but soon enough, please re-open the gates.

Clooney’s suggestion, that the gates be open but “it would not be appropriate to allow everyone and anyone to camp out in the Yard” might be a unique one.  He doesn’t indicate any details of this idea, such as who would be allowed to occupy a tent in Harvard Yard and who would only be allowed to visit.

The greater good

Occupy Harvard members tend to be especially concerned with two specific things.  The first is a desire for a better relationship between Harvard and its workers.  The second is a call for Harvard’s $32 billion endowment to be managed with more transparency and social responsibility.  In the first area, this well-focused protest already claims one victory – the previously mentioned janitors’ contract.  If Occupy Harvard influences how the endowment is handled, they could credibly claim victory and voluntarily decamp with their heads held high.

But labor and the endowment aren’t the only issues.  Occupiers everywhere have a tendency to want to change the world, and 375-year old Harvard is a world unto itself.  Camille, the post-doc and occupier mentioned above, wants to “make the Harvard Corporation a more ethical and socially responsible institution…an even better teaching institution that is committed to the greater good.” She says the “goal is to reaffirm Harvard as a marketplace of ideas where all viewpoints are discussed and analyzed without regard to the amount of money supporting the different ideas.” Camille explains that occupiers “are cognizant of the role that ideas at Harvard had on the economic collapse” and remain committed to the idea that Harvard “can and should generate solutions that promote social justice and equality for all.”

“We stand in support of the global Occupy movement,” she adds, but doesn’t speculate if Harvard Yard will remain occupied as long as the movement itself.  “After Thanksgiving, the future of the camp is in discussion so we have nothing to say yet about what will happen after next week.”

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has launched a new mobile website for the benefit of users on the go.mobileMBTA.com, powered by Usablenet, provides MBTA riders with easily accessible schedules and service alerts, as well as a customer comment form, an apps page, and trip planning through Google Maps.

A series of meningitis infections have appeared in various areas of Massachusetts. An unnamed seventh-grade student at Boston Latin Academy died today from a probable case of bacterial meningitis, as well as 64-year old Russell Marcoux, the town manager of Bedford, on November 10. A staff member of Hopedale Junior-Senior High also fell ill on November 17, but appears to be doing well.

Health commission officials have concluded that there are less than fifty people at the Boston Latin Academy who came in contact enough with the 12-year old girl to have possibly contracted the infection, and have advised anyone who spent extended amounts of time with her to visit their doctor. Dr. Anita Barry, the director of the Infectious Disease Bureau at the health commission, said “We consider close contact to be someone who was within 3 to 6 feet for at least an hour duration. It’s not someone who happened to walk past”.

Meanwhile, in Bedford, N.H., town official Russell Marcoux was hospitalized on October 31 at Elliot hospital in Manchester. Cause of his contraction of the illness is unknown, though it is believed that it was not contagious.

Also, parents of students at Hopedale Junior-Senior High have been contacted after a staff member fell ill, but state health officials say that the chances of the infection spreading are slim.

Meningitis can be transferred through contact with saliva, but can be avoided with a vaccine that prevents three strains of the virus. Symptoms, according to Mayo Clinic, include high fever, severe headaches, stiff neck, vomiting or nausea, difficulty concentrating, sleepiness, and sensitivity to light.

Nancy Barry, 30, of Salem was identified by police yesterday as the victim of a tailgating accident at a Yale-Harvard football game in New Haven.

Barry and two other women, Sarah Short of New Haven and Elizabeth Dernbach, an employee of Harvard, were hit by a U-Haul truck carrying kegs of beer, which continued on to hit another U-Haul. Short and Dernbach were hospitalized and treated for injuries but were both released. The driver’s name has not been released.

No charges have been announced as of yet.

CAMBRIDGE — Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House (R-GA) and current Republican candidate for president, appeared at Harvard University last night to introduce a documentary he helped create, “A City upon a Hill: The Spirit of American Exceptionalism,” at John F. Kennedy School of Government. But was soon interrupted by members of Occupy Boston and Occupy Harvard using the “mic check” call and response popular throughout the Occupy Movement.

The conservative non-profit organization Citizens United Productions is producer of this documentary and was the lead plaintiff in “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission,” the 2009 Supreme Court case which resulted in unions and corporations being allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money on political ads. Citizens United produces a variety of media – from television ads to feature-length documentaries – and describes itself as being dedicated to “…American values of limited government, freedom of enterprise, strong families, and national sovereignty and security.”

The protestors interrupting Gingrich used sarcastic mockery and said, in part, “Mic check / mic check / we love you Newt / thank you for standing up for corporations / they have rights too / thank you for understanding / that simple point / we are / the ninety-nine percent…”

Gingrich is the latest in a line of Right Wing figures (including Karl Rove, Michelle Bachmann and Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin) who have been “mic checked” by members of the Occupy protest in recent weeks. The male demonstrator leading the mic check in Cambridge, whose words were repeated by fellow protestors, seems to have been ad libbing his lines. This stands in contrast to interruptions in other states where protestors seem to have been reading prepared statements. Gingrich, standing with his wife, Callista, remained smiling and composed throughout the interruption but another person in attendance admonished the demonstrators by yelling “go back to your tents.”

Harvard security guards quickly removed the protestors. No arrests were made. Newt and Callista Gingrich where scheduled to sign copies of his book about American exceptionalism, “A Nation Like No Other,” at the Harvard Square Coop following his appearance at the Kennedy School. The cancellation of this appearance was celebrated on Twitter for several hours by Occupy supporters who tweeted messages such as “rare yellow-bellied newt sighting in Boston” and “@newtgingrich enjoy this while it lasts- you’ll never be this popular again!”

Nancy Brennan, Executive Director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy (seen at right), appeared at the occupiers' General Assembly on October 10 hours before 141 early-morning arrests were made. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

Up to now, there has been a good relationship between Occupy Boston and the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, the non-profit organization that stewards the publicly-owned Dewey Square Park.

Although crowded and desirous of more space, the occupiers have stayed off the strip of land along the gravel path since the Conservancy indicated the plants there are delicate and could easily be damaged. And when Nancy Brennan, Executive Director of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, appeared at the occupiers’ General Assembly a few hours before 141 arrests were made on October 11, her address ended with the words “…another thing that the Greenway stands for is freedom of speech and I ask, for as long as you are on this land, would you please help us take care of it?” Her smile beamed as the crowd chanted her name in appreciation.

Last week, however, the Conservancy sent Mayor Thomas M. Menino a letter saying, in part, “we respectfully request that the City of Boston act to enforce our regulations and City permitting regulations.” The letter cites noise, sanitary conditions and crime among the reasons to evict the tent city.

On Tuesday, a day after the New York Police Department leveled the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park, plaintiffs representing Occupy Boston showed up at Suffolk Superior Court where Judge Frances McIntyre granted a temporarily injunction preventing police from raiding Dewey Square Park and removing the occupiers. The order, however, does allow police to act in case of fire, health issues, and violent outbreaks. McIntyre also ordered occupiers meet with city officials for a mediation session, and there is a hearing on a preliminary injunction scheduled for December 1.

According to text on the Occupy Boston website: “Some are saying that no police crackdown is immanent because the letter is over a week old and was written before a Boston judge recently granted an injunction barring the city and police from removing the occupiers. Others are arguing that injunctions will not prevent a crackdown because mayor Bloomberg disregarded a similar injunction to remove the occupiers from Liberty Plaza in NYC, and then got a judge to over-rule an injunction that was to pave the way for the protestors return to the plaza.”

Click here for a transcription of the letter sent to Menino by the Greenway Conservancy.

November 8, 2011

The Honorable Thomas M. Menino
Boston City Hall, 5th Floor
One City Hall Square
Boston, MA 02201

Dear Mr. Mayor,

The Board of Directors of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy finds itself in an increasingly difficult situation with regard to current events affecting public use of the Greenway. We take very seriously our role to welcome all park users as we oversee this wonderful public space in the heart of Boston and we honor the long tradition of free speech in our city and our country. However, our Park Use Guidelines expressly describe a goal of offering beautiful, well maintained spaces where people can relax and enjoy a variety of activities and celebrations of all sorts. We recognize that the Greenway may be used for a multitude of purposes, including use by individuals to gather together and express opinions about important issues of the day. Indeed, our Guidelines expressly provide that “[p]rotests and free speech…and allowed so long as such protest is disruptive to the public,” and that “[r]ules for public assembly established by the City of Boston will apply.” After much thought and discussion, we have come to the conclusion that, as fiduciaries for public use of the Greenway, we must request that you enforce our regulations and remove the occupiers from the Greenway.

We believe that the current use by Occupy Boston is not compatible with our obligation to ensure that everyone may enjoy the Greenway, and with the spirit and letter of the rules governing use of the space. The footprint of the encampment has literally taken over the Dewey Square Park and a portion of the plaza, preventing: a) passive enjoyment by the public; and b) other permitted activities for the public. Although we have not sought until now to have the Boston Police Department enforce our rules with regard to Occupy Boston, we have always taken the position that the current use of Dewey Square Parks a violation of our rules. Our rules prohibit overnight sleeping in the park and have specified general operating hours between 7:00am to 11:00pm. Like city parks, we also require that uses that necessitate set ups, like tents and amplified sound, seek a permit from the City of Boston. The Conservancy depends on the Boston Police Department to enforce those rules.

We have experienced the following specific problems:

• The Conservancy abandoned plans to have a food festival on October 15 on Dewey Square Park (a permitted event) from public safety concerns. We anticipated large crowds of attendees and there was inadequate space due to Occupy Boston. Fifteen small businesses lost income they were counting on.
• On our Farmer’s Market days, the farmers are experiencing a real reduction in income due to the noise, odors, and interference by the members of Occupy Boston and other protest groups.
• Our neighbors are buffeted by noise and wary of aggressive confrontation when they are passing through Dewey Square Park.
• There are disturbing incidents of drug dealing.
• Sanitary conditions are deteriorating significantly over time. Although we do not currently have a rat infestation problem, it is only a matter of time given the current conditions.

The Conservancy must also ensure that park rules are implemented equitably. Any use of the park that requires set ups and anticipates crowds requires a permit. Numerous groups have abided by this process, and the Conservancy and the City have been pleased to assist and accommodate them. Occupy Boston has not sought a permit, and its continued presence created a dangerous precedent for future groups that the Board — as stewards of the Greenway — cannot support.

In recognition of our responsibilities as members of the Greenway Conservancy Board, we respectfully request that the City of Boston act to enforce our regulations and City permitting regulations. We note that officers of the Boston Police Department have been present, conciliatory, and, all in all, done a tremendous job in keeping this peace in this difficult situation. We are confident that the end to this use of Dewey Square Park can be accomplished in a way that ensures respect for the rights of everyone.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Georgia Murray

Chair — Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy

cc: Peter O’Connor, Deputy Secretary of Transportation for Real Estate and Development

William Sinnott, Corporation Counsel

Edward Davis, Commissioner, Boston Police Department

Occupy Burlington, the protest encampment in Vermont’s largest city, was largely gutted on Monday in the wake of the suicide of a 35-year-old occupier last Thursday.

Most of the tents were gone yesterday. Some of the protesters did take their tents and belongings with them, but many others left the city to clean up the tents.

Protesters, who had been camping in City Hall Park since Oct. 28, agreed to move over the weekend.

The bodies of Paula Rudolph, her daughter, Caylin Rudolph, and Paula Rudolph’s boyfriend, Frederick Medina, were discovered in their home in Weymouth on Thursday. Paula Rudolph’s son, Donald Rudolph, has been charged with murder for the grisly triple homicide.

Former New England Patriot Ronnie Lippett, who had been sharing his home with 18-year old Donald Rudolph for about a year until July of 2010, said “He was just a disturbed kid who had a lot of issues,” he told The Boston Globe. Rudolph had, apparently, been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Rudolph was discovered climbing out of the house’s basement window after neighbors called the police on account of a “suspicious person” being in the home. Further searching led to the discovery of the victims.

Richard Grimes, Police Chief of Weymouth, described the scene as “gruesome”. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said there was “evidence of massive trauma”, but cause of death is still unknown.

A man participating in a protest encampment Burlington’s City Hall Park was shot and wounded yesterday. The injury is, reportedly, life-threatening.

Police are unable to report whether or not the gunshot was self-inflicted, but they do not believe that the public should fear being at risk.

Occupy protesters have inhabited the park since late October in objection to the idea that the nation’s financial system is based on the needs of the wealthy.

CAMBRIDGE — Occupy Harvard, the latest local manifestation of the Occupy Movement, started with almost 30 tents last night in the Old Yard directly in front of the iconic statue of John Harvard. Police kept those without Harvard ID out of the Yard. Some protesters have complained about treatment by police, but no reports arrests or injures have been reported. Once the encampment was created, between 50 and 100 stayed there peacefully through the first night.

In the tense first moments of occupation, protestors scramble to erect tents in the middle of a protective circle of their comrades. (Blast Staff photo/John Stephen Dwyer)

This encampment took form after weeks of planning and appeared seven days after 70 Harvard students walked out of Greg Mankiw’s lecture after delivering an open letter that said “Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University and our greater society.”

Closing of the gates

Hours before the encampment was put in place, a reported 500 protestors assembled in Harvard Square but were prevented from entering Harvard Yard by police and security people who locked most of the university’s wrought-iron gates. Police and security positioned themselves at the few gates that were not padlocked and intermittently allowed either no one at all or only those possessing Harvard ID to enter. Several graduate students and a faculty member said they couldn’t recollect any time in the past when the university experienced such a severe lock down of the campus.

During one point in the night, a mass of people tried to force their way into the Yard as police pushed the gate closed, making for a chaotic scene. Hannah Hofheinz, 32, a student at Harvard Divinity School later described the police “slamming the gates on us and crushing people – a very violent response.”

More accounts of roughness emerged later including a Facebook post by Taras Dreszer that said “as we were trying to enter Harvard Yard, a Police officer grabbed me by my collar and forcibly stopped me from moving forward. I showed him my ID and he said ‘I don’t give a fuck.’ He then said ‘I want to sock you in the face but I decided not to.’”

While some students with ID had to wait before getting in, throughout the night there were a few people with no Harvard ID who successfully made it inside the Yard by climbing over (or, at one specific spot, under) the fence without being observed. It was reported that one move obvious fence climber was seized by police but was released without being arrested as protestors chanted the questions “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?” to the uniformed law-enforcers. Security also prevented media from entering the Yard, but Blast was able to get inside.

Assembly at the Law School

“Adrenaline was present for a good portion of the night,” Hannah Hofheinz later described, “we heard that Harvard was closing the gates at around 5:30…the question was ‘What do we do? Only Harvard people can come inside, but occupations are about openness.’” After meeting inside the gates the group decided to move. “The choice was made to gather outside the gates where we could all talk. So we did so, and we started to march in order to get out, then they closed all the gates,”said Hofheinz, “but we were able to go out, and we walked up the street, and ended up over at the Law School.”

Around 8 p.m., with hundreds of protestors in attendance, Occupy Harvard held a General Assembly at Harvard Law School (which stands near but outside the university’s iron gates). The meeting was heavily Tweeted about and was broadcast over a live feed creating interest and drawing more supporters to Harvard Square as the night went on. The General Assembly discussed the idea of erecting tents at Harvard Law School but the group ultimately remained committed to occupying the Old Yard location that had been previously discussed and decided upon during a series of meetings over past weeks.

Occupying the Old Yard

Those protestors who made it inside the Yard assembled in front of the statue of John Harvard. This group was mostly made up of those with Harvard ID (student, faculty or staff) but did include a few people who gained entry to Harvard Yard by stealth. One woman, who asked not to be identified but is associated with the Direct Action working group at Occupy Boston, said “Harvard police seemed to have some issue with our right to assemble. I’m not sure what that is. That’s their issue. But we got in. We managed it.”

Around 10:30, as if on cue, about a dozen people suddenly and hastily began erecting tents in front of the statue while protected by a circle of about 100 of their fellow protestors. The people in this human barrier were initially tense and stood with their arms locked but they relaxed when it seemed apparent that police and security would not interfere with their efforts. They also got assurance from the presence of Suzy M. Nelson, Dean of Student Life and overseer of the Harvard College residential system (Harvard College is the division within Harvard University in which full time undergraduates are matriculated).

Nelson participated in the General Assembly that then took place. The dean, like all who spoke, used the repetitive call-and-response technique of the “people’s mic” so as to be better heard by the circle. Expressing a desire to minimize the negative impact on students’ efforts to sleep and study, Nelson asked the protestors to move their tents from the Old Yard to Tercentenary Theater, an adjacent area (framed by Widener Library and Memorial Church) that is not so closely surrounded by student residences. Some questioned the validity of the noise concern. Through consensus, the General Assembly decided not to comply with Nelson’s request but will discuss it again when it meets today, at 5 pm, with more of the student body in attendance. Nelson promised to help publicize this assembly so that as many students as possible might participate.

By the time the General Assembly finished after 11 p.m., almost 200 people (perhaps a dozen of them bystanders) were gathered in a wide ring around more than two dozen tents. An ad hoc group made mostly of Harvard College students gathered on the stairs to the left of the John Harvard statue to compose a press release while the last few tents were being set in place. Later, some students took a sign that said “Welcome, we’re glad you’re here,” propped it on John Harvard’s lap, and took pictures with him.

Response and reaction

While the above events were unfolding, Harvard University released a statement that said, in part, “speech and the free exchange of ideas are hallmarks of the Harvard experience, and important values for the university community to uphold…(but) it is important that we assure the safety and security of our students, particularly those who live in the Yard.’’

However many members of the Harvard community expressed displeasure at the way in which the situation was handled. Rick Heller, an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, microblogged “where you stand depends on where you sit…In other words, the office you hold biases your perspective. I believe this accounts for the defensive and bureaucratic decision of supposedly progressive Harvard leaders to lock its students out of the Yard…Harvard is mostly progressive on social issues. On economic issues, it promotes the theories and behaviors that caused the crash of 2008.”

While the campus was under lock down, some students not involved with the protest complained about Occupy Harvard subjecting them to inconvenince. Most protestors, conversely, place that blame squarely on the actions of law-enforcement.

The ninety-nine percent

Hannah Hofheinz, when asked about what Occupy Harvard might accomplish, said “I think occupations are not about demands…My guess is this occupation will be like the many others in which various voices will raise various concerns and expect that they’re answered. And there will be actions that spin out from this site. But I think the main point is…to set up tents here and say ‘the ninety-nine percent are here, and we’re living together – we’re really human.’ She added, “what I care about is people realizing how deeply our system is hurting, and how deeply people are hurting, even here, at Harvard….at this point Harvard is admitting a good number of people that come from everywhere, and anywhere, and all kinds of backgrounds, whose families may not have homes anymore and that’s a hard reality…the Harvard population is part of the ninety-nine percent.”

Gabriel Bayard, 18, one of 70 students who walked out of Greg Mankiw’s Economics class last Wednesday, agreed that Occupy Harvard should address society-wide concerns. But he also expressed keen interest in the occupation addressing Harvard-specific issues such as labor contracts and said “I definitely think this occupation has the ability to make an impact directly on the ninety-nine percent. Theoretical issues are important, but we here can make a difference in the next week in the lives of hundreds of janitors. I think that immediate impact is really important. I think we should keep that in mind as we go forward.”

Another student who participated in the class walkout, Rachel Sandalow-Ash, 18, added, “I would agree that union contracts are very important, especially since they don’t come up for negotiation very often and this is a real, immediate and pressing issue. I also think that Harvard’s use of its 32 billion dollar endowment – that makes it the largest university endowment and the second richest non-profit in the world after the Vatican – is important because where Harvard puts its money has a huge effect. Right now Harvard invests in [HEI Hospitality] hotels, which are basically the worst places for labor. They invest in land grabs in Africa, denying people’s basic human rights…Harvard, like many other very rich corporations, does a lot of harm to people in the ninety-nine percent in the United States and around the world. I think we have the power to change that, here.”

Gates still guarded

As of this morning, only about three of Harvard’s gate were unlocked and each of these was guarded by a group of police and security people. A Harvard cop guarding the gate from Quincy Street told Blast that this state of security would be in affect indefinitely. When asked how they would deal with Harvard Extension school students (who take evening classes but don’t have Harvard ID unless in a degree program) the officer laughed and said “I won’t deal with it. I’ll be home in bed then so it isn’t my problem.”

After 22 members of the Occupy Worcester protests were arrested on Saturday, city and police officials are calculating the monetary costs of the protesters’ presence at Lake Park and the recent arrests, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

City Manager Michael V. O’Brien told the Gazette that the costs have not yet been estimated, but the city is investigating how much was spent to send officers to check on the protesters starting when they first camped out on October 16.  The figure will also include the cost of the arrests on Saturday.

“The Worcester Police respect the right of citizens to peacefully protest their grievances. The orchestrated arrest of 22 people on a busy Saturday night created an unnecessary strain on the police department’s limited resources,” police said in a press release, according to the Gazette. “In order to safely and effectively deal with the mass demonstration and arrest, multiple units of uniform and investigative officers were diverted from other pressing public safety responsibilities.”

According to the Gazette, protesters are planning a demonstration similar to that which got them arrested for this coming weekend.

Boston police officers sued the city for money they did not receive under the Quinn Bill, which rewards officers with college degrees with higher pay.  This suit could resonate throughout the state, making many other Massachusetts town reimburse their educated officers.

Due to budget cuts, the state stopped funding half of the program in 2009.  Boston continued funding its half of the pay, but says the city is not obligated to compensate for the state’s half, according to the Boston Globe.

The Supreme Judicial Court will hear the lawsuit on Tuesday, in which the police will fight for the full amount promised by the bill.  The Boston Globe reports that the officers will get almost $17 million if they win.

About 25 people protesting at Occupy Worcester were arrested on Saturday after staying in the Common despite officers’ requests that they leave, according to the Boston Globe.

Police say the participants moved from Lake Park to the Common, and would not leave when asked.  The arrests were without incident according to authorities.

The Globe reports that staying on the Common between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. is misdemeanor trespassing as per a Worcester city ordinance.  Mayor Joseph O’Brien alerted the protesters that they faced arrest if they defied the ordinance.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette said the participants wrote in a press release that they felt Lake Park is an “excellent boot camp,” but the Common was better for visibility and solidarity.

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 door and ran through the main dining room, which was at capacity…(customers) cowered in fear, with a look of shock and disbelief on their faces.” The three are charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

Minutes earlier, the trio broke from away from an Occupy Boston protest march heading west on Newbury Street and, carrying large banners with them, cut over to Boylston Street. Two Boston Police officers mounted on bicycles gave pursuit.

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

An anonymous source at the Occupy Boston encampment later indicated the three were headed to Prudential Center to hang their banners before the arrival of the 100+ person march but may have chosen to run inside Burger King when police blocked their way. The same source said the protest march did make it to Prudential Center and demonstrated there (similar to as they have done at Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market Several times in the past) until a complaint to the Boston Police from a store manager led to the demonstrators’ departure.

When Blast caught up with the three protestors who had separated from the march, they were being detained on the sidewalk outside Burger King by approximately 10 uniformed police officers and several in plain clothes. Overhearing a policeman describe sticks the trio was carrying, Jeffrey Nunes (the most outspoken of the three) responded “are you kidding me.? It’s tied to a banner” before adding sarcastically, “those are definitely weapons.” He added, “You got to be fucking kidding me. This is what a police state looks like. This is what happens when police have nothing better to do.”

When a bystander asked him what happened, Nunes said “they think we’re about to commit a robbery or some other bullshit. We were just at a march.”

Minutes later, the three detainees began chanting “Show me what a police state looks like? This is what a police state looks like!” using the call-and-response pattern popular with Occupy protests nationwide. A man in a backwards baseball cap began heckling them asking, “Don’t you sound a little rehearsed?” causing Nunes to respond “What does that matter?” before starting the chant “from Boston to Greece, fuck the police” which the others joined. While “fuck the police,” “I smell bacon” and other phrases taunting police officers are vastly unpopular among Occupy Boston protestors, that community did (during its first week of occupation) decide through consensus to respect “diversity of tactics” as expressed through “autonomous actions.”

The heckler, later characterized by someone in the crowd as “that drunk guy,” continued making comments even after a policeman addressed him saying “Chill out…I don’t need you to get that fired up, alright?’ The protestors’ chant stopped when police turned Lyons to face the building and handcuffed him behind his back. Lyons asked several times, “what am I being arrested for?” before yelling “I was walking down the street; this is why I’m being arrested! My name is Kiean Lyons…I’m an American patriot. I’m being arrested for walking down the street and defending my rights!” He was then put inside a police car.

The vociferous bystander continued yelling at the two remaining detainees saying “You’re being arrested for disorderly (sic).” Nunes, wearing a keffiyeh (a traditional Arab headdress) loosely around his neck responded, “No, we’re being arrested for dressing in a Arabian scarf and walking down the street, or running down the street. We’re apparently about to commit a robbery…” As police handcuffed Cormier he repeatedly asked “how am I disturbing the peace?

As Nunes and Cormier awaited transport, the hostile sidewalk commentator shouted “everyone needs to do two years in the military or two years in prison” to which Nunes responded, “Yeah? I ought to kill people for unjust reasons? I ought to kill people for oil?” and, sarcastically, “that’s what I ought to do, right? That’s a real American right there.”

The heckler continued his taunts saying “you can get arrested for disorderly…you’re just shooting your mouth off, you can get arrested for that…yeah you can!” Nunes retorted “that’s what this country was built on: freedom of speech.” In the final seconds before Nunes was put inside a police car, the heckler asked him “so what do you have to say?” Nunes responded, “What do I have to say? This is what a police state looks like.”

Earlier this same day, during a separate Occupy Boston march around 1:30 p.m., Langston Peace, 29 of Boston, was arrested and charged with larceny over $250 during for allegedly walking off with a police officer’s departmental bicycle. It’s unclear whether this incident was an act of protest connected with Occupy Boston. If so, the arrest of Peace and the three men at Burger King brings the total number arrests since September 30 of Occupy Boston protestors to 170 (with some demonstrators — such as Nunes and Cornier who were arrested along with 141 others on October 11 — being arrested more than once during this time).