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Police break up Emerson encampment, arrest more than 100

By adamg on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 9:43am

NBC Boston reports Boston Police move in around 2 a.m. and dragged out students protesting the situation in Gaza and tents from Boylston Place. Emerson canceled classes for today. Some video.

Meanwhile, Harvard students are in their second day of an encampment in Harvard Yard. The school is barring non-Harvard people from the Yard.

Neighborhoods: 
Downtown
Topics: 
Politics
Free tagging: 
Emerson College
students
Boylston Street
Boylston Place


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Comments

By Pete X on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 9:57am.

No protesters were injured but four officers sustained injuries, one seriously, police said.

Press should not uncritically print quotes from police spokesmen.

At least the Globe did the minimum:

However, according to Broadcastify transmissions between a commanding officer on the scene and the dispatcher, at least two protesters were taken to hospitals.

“Can you confirm which hospitals two of the protesters went to” the commanding officer said on the recording.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/25/metro/emerson-encampment-cleared/

So who called in the cops, the city or Emerson?

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By Hardy Har Har on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:12am.

that clearing the alley was 'imminent'.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 12:36pm.

https://x.com/Tori_Bedford/status/1783516820411941000 (Sorry for the Twitter link; it's all I got.)

an Emerson College student sent me this video of city crews cleaning blood from the alleyway where 108 students were arrested last night during an encampment sweep. I'm at Boston municipal court today where eight of those arrested have been given summons for arraignments in May.

@Tori_Bedford (GBH Reporter)

This bloodshed was totally unnecessary and unbefitting of a "world-class city." We must demand other solutions besides paying city workers to beat the shit out of peaceful college kids.

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By Sock_Puppet on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 2:04pm.

No protesters were injured but four officers sustained injuries, one seriously, according to police, though students contested that, saying there were injuries among people arrested.

The only reported serious injury was to a police officer. Maybe it's his blood.

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By Pete X on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 2:19pm.

The police spokesman was lying, according to the police radio.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 3:05pm.

Who's to say!?

Regardless, no blood needed to be shed, civilian or BPD.

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By coffeeweasel on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 9:58am.

Harvard has also restricted access to the medical school quad unless you have a Harvard ID. As of this morning there were no tents at the medical school.

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By Ben on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:01am.

Has the protest group at Emerson stated why they didn't camp out on the Common? Although sleeping overnight not allowed I'm sure the city would have let it go if it was truly peaceful.

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By Rob on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 8:12pm.

Just a guess, but if the public restrooms on the Common are closed overnight, and protesters head back to college buildings across the street to use facilities... they could be corralled and kept from re-entering the protest encampment.
Stay on the other side of the street, fronting a College building - you have your own facilities.

By Ron Newman on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:05am.

The Harvard Arts First Performance Fair is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at multiple locations in (and beyond) Harvard Yard. This event is advertised to and open to the public. There's also a parade through Harvard Yard immediately before.

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By anon on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:10am.

Something I have noticed about these many demonstrations going on is that many seemingly non-Palestinian, white, American college students are wearing keffiyehs. I certainly understand that this is to show solidarity, but is it no longer considered cultural appropriation? Not so long ago people were screaming even about a kimono exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts being cultural appropriation, but now anybody can wear a keffiyeh as long as it is in the name of social justice? Forgive me if this seems like a foolish question, but the rules of what is socially acceptable change so frequently that it leaves me confused.

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By Daan on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 7:35pm.

Snake oil salespeople of religion, Evangelicals, voted for a man who revels in his (based on their beliefs) sexual immorality. But it was okay because he was doing God's work.

Pretty amazing how easy it is for human beings to lie themselves.

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By lbb on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 7:52pm.

people were screaming

...please.

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By John Costello on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:15am.

1. So, an alley off Boylston Street is cleared despite its political speech basis but Mass and Cass, a public disorder issue endures.

2. Were the people holding the Israeli flags blocking the sidewalk on the north side of Boylston Street cleared as well? Might be a bit two faced if they weren’t. They were impeding pedestrians.

3. I can’t wait for the Mayor’s word salad justification for this. It was going to gone on 3 weeks anyway. Who will she unleash the cops on next?

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By David on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:02am.

John - I won't comment on the other issues, but I work in the Transportation building and they were very aggressive and blocking access to that entrance. They needed to go. I didn't see them blocking the sidewalk as much. I think they were under the mistaken impression (among other things) that the alley is Emerson property.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 3:32pm.

I can use a different entrance to a building if it avoids police brutalizing fellow citizens, but that’s just me.

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By Waquiot on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 6:40pm.

The next time someone complains about the protestors in front of Planned Parenthood.

At the end of the day, regardless of their cause, they were blocking a passageway. So long as they were warned and BPD tried to reason with the leadership of the group, what happened happened. If you don't disperse peacefully you should be able to assume what the response will be.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 6:53pm.

. . . with the city power washing blood off the cobblestones and ghouls cheering the state-funded violence against students. I know that’s an “extremist” view according to some commenters.

And I’d say the same thing about most PP picketing that I’ve ever seen here in Boston, regardless of how odious the practice is to me. It need not end in bloodshed.

Furthermore, and most importantly, PP has suffered mass shootings and firebombings, yet the PP picketing is allowed to continue. Your PP example is poor because the organization has experienced physical, quantifiable violence and murders, but the violence at these anti-genocide encampments has been purotrated near exclusively by tax payer-funded police forces.

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By Daan on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 7:41pm.

Genocide is killing all Palestinians. That is not what is happening.

Meanwhile the folks who are crying genocide conveniently ignore the real genocide of African nations that are hell bent on murdering gays and lesbians, purging their populations of undesirables.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 8:03pm.

Which Palestinians are the IDF not intentionally killing?

Young children. The elderly. The infirm. Intentionally bombing residences with non combatants. Leveling active hospitals. Targeting World Central Kitchen.

What’s the acceptable amount of slaughter and war crimes Israel must commit before it unlocks genocide status? Is ethnic cleansing a more palatable description of Isreal’s actions for you?

And I’m not ignoring anything. If encampments sprung up protesting the violence against LBGTQ folks in Africa and BPD responded the same way, I’d have the same reaction.

Stop changing the subject.

I agree with a lot of your opinions but your argumentation is sometimes deranged.

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By lbb on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 6:48pm.

Genocide is killing all Palestinians. That is not what is happening.

So, because there are still Jews, Armenians and Tutsi on the planet, those weren't genocides?

Got it.

Meanwhile the folks who are crying genocide conveniently ignore the real genocide of African nations that are hell bent on murdering gays and lesbians, purging their populations of undesirables.

How much of the Emerson endowment is invested in Uganda? This is clearly a matter of great importance to you, so I'm sure you have the figures at your fingertips.

By lbb on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 7:55pm.

The next time someone complains about the protestors in front of Planned Parenthood.

Are you quite sure that the average Planned Parenthood has multiple entrances?

I'm guessing not.

Some "logic".

At the end of the day

Ah, yes, at the end of the day. The last refuge of those peddling specious pseudo-arguments.

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By anon on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:43am.

I can’t wait for the Mayor’s word salad justification for this. It was going to gone on 3 weeks anyway. Who will she unleash the cops on next?

Usually disagree with you but you're spot on here. There's no justification for roughing these kids up with BPD.

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By David Lee on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:39am.

only 4 parking tickets issued... i don't know, seems like unfair practice & broken systems to me.

https://www.universalhub.com/2024/mayhem-streets-back-bay-drag-racers-tr...

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By Anthony Martinetti on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 12:55pm.

"The situation in Gaza."

By that do you mean the 1200 Israelis murdered by terrorists?

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By SwirlyGrrl on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:13pm.

The numbers are in dispute for starters.

Then there is that *small* detail of the IDF killing their countrymen when "liberated" because it was more convenient and didn't require them to control their murderous impulses.

Israeli officials have gone on record that their intent is to clear Gaza out entirely. There are words for that - "ethnic cleansing" comes to mind.

Then there is the systematic murder of people who were there to feed people.

Nothing justifies the execution of children by soldiers who know full well that they are murdering children, extermination of entire families, and destruction of large areas for the crimes of a few. Nothing.

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By Tim Mc. on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 8:56am.

but I don't think many universities have much divestment to do from Hamas...

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By Chris77 on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 1:24pm.

I hope they will be there for the next Back Bay street takeover.

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By Heather on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 2:41pm.

In the late 60s, college protests were the thing to do, because it didn't cost much to attend, and many people went to college to avoid the draft, and were not necessarily there because they were career oriented.

These days, students and their parents pay 40,50, 60k a year to attend these schools. When they shut down classes, they are only hurting themselves. Why not organize at the university, but then go take up protest in a more public space where the whole community hears the protest, not just a bunch of other students who are more pissed off that their 60k/year classes are cancelled more than anything happening in gaza. Go get a permit, etc, and go to the common, go to the statehouse. Why confine the protest to Harvard Yard anyway?

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By lbb on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 7:58pm.

why why why why why

Why don't you ask them? You'll never learn any answers asking rhetorical questions of cranky old people on the internet. If you really want to know, ask them, and listen.

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By tblade on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 8:08pm.

You can only have principles if your college burden is cheap. When it’s expensive, you must serve capitalist interests; thems the rules.

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By Ari O on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:26pm.

1) Why encampments? Seems convenient they only went up recently when the weather got decent …
2) Why are so many encampees wearing masks?

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By John Costello on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 9:24am.

Guy who is a supporter of almost every liberal cause, never met a bike lane he did not like, all of a sudden turns into Ariel What War Crime Will I Commit Today Sharon when it is something he doesn't like.

By Ari O on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 4:12pm.

Neither of my questions.

By anon on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 3:08pm.

Because if the alley is owned by the MBTA or Mass Dot I don't believe the Boston Police can enforce city ordinances on their property.

By Waquiot on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 6:37pm.

It's a private way.

Search here.

By Ari O on Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:23pm.

https://today.emerson.edu/2024/04/24/important-encampment-update/

Boylston Place Alley is not solely owned by Emerson College and has a public right-of-way under the jurisdiction of the Boston Police Department (BPD) and the Boston Fire Department (BFD)

This is also a pretty clear fire hazard.

By Carty on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 6:52am.

Yes - America! Land of the carefully managed fire hazard.

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By Hardy Har Har on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 6:49am.

'Memba Khymani "I hate white people" James, former student representative to the Boston school committee?

https://www.newsweek.com/who-khymani-james-columbia-protest-organizers-r...

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By Sock_Puppet on Fri, 04/26/2024 - 10:27am.

That's not antisemitism because...