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Boston Police Deal With DNC Protesters
AP ^ | 7-29-04 | ADAM GORLICK

Posted on 07/29/2004 1:34:22 PM PDT by Indy Pendance

BOSTON - After four days of relative calm, protests became tense outside the site of the Democratic National Convention as demonstrators burned a two-faced effigy depicting President Bush (news - web sites) on one side and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) on the other and started a shoving match with police.

About 400 protesters marched Thursday through the city before arriving outside the fenced-in demonstration area outside the FleetCenter. The throng pressed up against police officers who used clubs to keep the crowd at bay.

Several protesters were dragged from the crowd and handcuffed by police. Other screamed at the officers to let them go.

Police Superintendent Robert Dunford said two men were arrested, one because police were told he had a bottle of an unknown accelerant, the other for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

Police quickly barricaded the streets near the FleetCenter as the enormous contingent of state and local officers quickly calmed the situation. Fifty to 60 officers with helmets and riot shields marched toward where the confrontation was taking place.

Dunford said he got punched as he ran to the aid of his officers. "I tried to pull my officers from the crowd and I got sucker punched from behind," he said.

"People get angry and they don't know how to get rid of their anger so they end up fighting cops," said protester Garrett Stark, 21, of Rochester, N.Y.

The main entrance to the FleetCenter, which faces the protest area, was closed just as Democratic delegates were beginning to arrive for the final day of the convention.

Two small explosions were heard a few blocks from the arena. A bomb squad had arrived in the area a few minutes and told bystanders to move away. The source of the explosions was not immediately clear.

Police had prepared for a surge in spontaneous street protests.

The Boston-area Bl(A)ck Tea Society, an ad hoc group of self-described anarchists and anti-authority activists that formed a year ago to stage protests at the convention, called for "decentralized direct action" Thursday.

The group does not advocate violence but encourages demonstrators to hold street protests regardless of whether they have secured permits from the city.

Bl(A)ck Tea members joined with anti-war groups in a march that began in Copley Square shortly after noon and quickly grew into the largest demonstration since thousands of anti-war and anti-abortion protesters greeted delegates on Sunday as they arrived in the city.

The crowd, estimated at around 400 people, looped through the city's Financial District before heading toward the FleetCenter. They were accompanied by about 100 police officers wearing helmets and carrying shields. Seven protesters with hoods tied themselves to a police barricade.

When they arrived outside the fenced-in demonstration zone near the FleetCenter, the protesters set fire to a two-faced effigy — one side showing Bush, the other Kerry. As it burned, the protesters stomped on the puppet, while others burned copies of Bush's autobiography.

Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole ordered police tactical teams out in force Thursday, as they have been throughout the week.

State police Lt. Col. Jack Kelly said Thursday's police deployment was the biggest in recent Boston history.

Superintendent James Claiborne said police were not overreacting by having a large, visible presence, based on what had happened with protests during past conventions.

"I think the cost of not being prepared is watching the city burn down," Claiborne said. "We wouldn't want to see Newbury Street with half the windows knocked out. You know you wouldn't want to see riots in the street and people being hurt."

The biggest protests surrounding the convention were on Sunday. About 2,000 anti-war activists and a separate group of 1,000 abortion opponents crossed paths briefly as they marched to the FleetCenter as convention delegates were just arriving in town.

The next day, police revoked abortion opponents' permit to pray and leave roses in front of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Beacon Hill home, a decision later upheld by a federal judge.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: dncconvention; kerry
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1 posted on 07/29/2004 1:34:26 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
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To: Indy Pendance

Seems to a black out on this on the tele.


2 posted on 07/29/2004 1:38:14 PM PDT by AZamericonnie ("Any compromise between good & evil only hurts the good & helps the evil")
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To: Indy Pendance


3 posted on 07/29/2004 1:39:19 PM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: Indy Pendance

Seems to a black out on this on the tele.


4 posted on 07/29/2004 1:39:37 PM PDT by AZamericonnie ("Any compromise between good & evil only hurts the good & helps the evil")
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To: Indy Pendance
the protesters set fire to a two-faced effigy -- one side showing Bush, the other Kerry

Huh. News radio out of Boston didn't mention the Kerry face. I thought it was weird (but, of course, not that weird) that someone would protest the Dems by burning a Republican.

5 posted on 07/29/2004 1:40:43 PM PDT by prion (Yes, as a matter of fact, I AM the spelling police)
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To: Indy Pendance
Shades of 1968, Batman! Looks like Monsewer Kerry's flipping has flopped with his on constituents.
6 posted on 07/29/2004 1:41:38 PM PDT by reed13
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To: Indy Pendance

Michael Moore,

Would you send your kids to a DNC convention?


7 posted on 07/29/2004 1:42:12 PM PDT by Mark (Treason doth never prosper, for if it prosper, NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON.)
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To: Indy Pendance

Dang. I was really hoping this thread would have some great pictures of the cops bustin' heads.


8 posted on 07/29/2004 1:42:42 PM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Indy Pendance

This was reported on ABC radio noon news about an hour ago. Can't get to the ABC website, and it's not on FOX.


9 posted on 07/29/2004 1:42:47 PM PDT by EggsAckley (.....John Edwards: The political equivalent of breast implants.....)
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To: finnman69

Ha.

10 posted on 07/29/2004 1:43:44 PM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Indy Pendance

More detail at...
http://www.newrepublicanarchive.com/pages/4/index.htm


11 posted on 07/29/2004 1:46:54 PM PDT by CaptIsaacDavis (.)
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To: finnman69

Oooh...for want of an Air Strike at my disposal...


12 posted on 07/29/2004 1:49:08 PM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow ("I am the wretch that the song refers to.")
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To: Constitution Day
I do appreciate the photo of the cop pinning the protester to the ground by his face.
13 posted on 07/29/2004 1:50:19 PM PDT by dukeman
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To: finnman69

Screw overtime! They promised me some sticktime. I want my sticktime dangit! And this dude is stanky!

14 posted on 07/29/2004 1:50:41 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (You can turn your head away from the Berg video and still hear Al Queda's calls to prayer.)
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To: AZamericonnie
I am watching this on my local (to me in NH) news stations. They claim that there is some sort of protest going on. However, all I see is a gaggle of journalists. The reporters must outnumber the protesters by about 12:1. This whole thing is probably staged by the MSM because the DNC is so completely BORING!
15 posted on 07/29/2004 1:52:27 PM PDT by Conservative Infidel
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To: Indy Pendance

What would an anarchist do if someone rolled over his car, set his apartment on fire or punched him just because? Anarchy is a one sided mindset. I also think most own no property or hard earned items.

Their mothers should have spanked them instead of letting them grow up to be anti-social pukes.


16 posted on 07/29/2004 1:52:51 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: dukeman

I actually posted that before looking...oops.


17 posted on 07/29/2004 1:53:18 PM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Indy Pendance

Hannity has Tim Russert on, and they are saying that the demonstrators are smearing feces on themselves to deter cops from arresting them! Pew!


18 posted on 07/29/2004 1:59:01 PM PDT by Solamente
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To: Indy Pendance; OXENinFLA

Hannity just said that the protesters were smearing feces on themselves so the police won't touch them.


19 posted on 07/29/2004 2:00:20 PM PDT by StriperSniper ("Ronald Reagan, the Founding Father of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy." - Mark Levin 6/8/04)
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To: Constitution Day
SMELL THE GLOVE BEEATCH!!!!!!!


20 posted on 07/29/2004 2:01:17 PM PDT by cmsgop ( Bong Hits, Fraggle Rock Reruns and DU is no way to go through Life.............)
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