Scores arrested at Occupy Boston protest

in the early hours of yesterday morning after gathering in downtown Boston.
Boston earlier saw one of its biggest rallies so far in a movement that began in New York last month to protest perceived Wall Street excesses and other social issues and has spread to cities across the nation.
Hundreds of protesters, including many college students, marched in support of Occupy Boston.
Meanwhile Occupy Wall Street is planning a ‘millionaire’s march’ to wealthy New Yorkers’ homes. Mainstream media in the United States and elsewhere has so far treated the issue as a non-event, giving the protests very little or no coverage at all.
On the Occupy Boston Facebook page – which has over 20 000 likes – (US) protesters are lamenting the fact that they have to turn to foreign media for coverage yesterday night’s events. Russia Today is among those who appear to have been in the crowd as arrests were made at the demonstrators’ attempted second camp.
RT reported: “A new chapter in the annals of American police brutality has been written, as two Vietnam war veterans who joined Occupy Boston protests suffered injuries after being beaten by police and arrested along with some 50 other demonstrators.
“A new chapter in the annals of American police brutality has been written, as two Vietnam war veterans who joined Occupy Boston protests suffered injuries after being beaten by police and arrested along with some 50 other demonstrators.
“After barring protesters from occupying a freshly-planted greenway near their official encampment at Dewey Square, police pulled down the demonstrators’ tents and started confiscating their property.
“RT’s Lucy Kafanov, who has been closely observing the protests, said the drama reached a peak during a physical confrontation between police and a 74-year-old Vietnam war veteran.
“The police are currently patrolling the greenway while the protesters pondering how to raise US$4 000 to bail out those arrested.”
In a statement on Occupy Boston’s website the group accused police of heavy handed tactics:
“At 1:30 this morning (Tuesday), hundreds of police in full riot gear brutally attacked Occupy Boston, which had peacefully gathered on the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
“The Boston Police Department made no distinction between protesters, medics, or legal observers, arresting legal observer Ursula Levelt, who serves on the steering committee for the National Lawyers Guild, as well as four medics attempting to care for the injured.”
Earlier in the day, an estimated ten thousand union members, students, veterans, families, men, and women of all ages marched from the Boston Common to Dewey Square, and then to the North Washington Bridge to demand economic reform on Wall Street and the end of special interest influence in Washington. Following this massive outpouring of public support, dozens of police vans descended on the Greenway, with batons drawn, assaulting protesters and arresting more than one-hundred people.
Members of Veterans for Peace carrying American flags were pushed to the ground and their flags trampled as the police hauled them away.
Boston police said no protesters or police were injured in the manouevre. “Civil disobedience will not be tolerated,” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the local Fox 25 News in Boston yesterday morning.
In New York a section of Occupy Wall Street protesters were planning a ‘millionaire’s march’ to wealthy Manhattan residents’ homes. The action is being planned by UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, and New York Communities for Change, all of whom helped swell the largest Occupy Wall Street march so far last week Wednesday.
Reportedly, one of the homes to be occupied will include that of Rupert Murdoch. The press release said:
“Working in support of Occupy Wall Street and to keep attention on economic justice issues in New York, the tour will visit homes of some of the most well-known millionaires in New York City, specifically chosen for their willingness to hoard wealth at the expense of the 99 percent. The tour will highlight the economic injustice of giving the wealthiest 1 percent a US$5 billion tax windfall on December 31 when the millionaire’s income tax expires.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has condemned the “horrible repression” of the anti-Wall Street protesters and described a US Republican presidential candidate as “crazy” for his criticism of Cuba and Venezuela.
Occupy Wall Street-like protests continue to spread across many cities in the US, Canada and Europe. – guardian.co.uk/Reuters/The Herald.