Police defend handling of the media during Occupy arrests

By Globe staff

Boston police defended their handling of the media during the Occupy Boston raid early this morning, when most reporters of the media were not able to get a good view of arrests taking place.

“We were making every accommodation for the press to make sure they did have an optimal vantage point when it came to covering the police action,” said Boston police spokesman Elaine Driscoll.

As police entered the site, they forced most members of the media to stand on the sidewalk on Atlantic Avenue, on the outskirts of Dewey Square. A line of about a dozen uniformed officers stood between them and the square, where at least 46 people were arrested.

Boston Police Superintendent William Evans said this was done so members of the media wouldn’t interfere with the operation.

Driscoll said reporters were escorted by officers from the department’s media relations department “so they could get a closer look than they otherwise would have been able to.”

She said two pool cameras were allowed closer to the action. A Globe photographer was one of those in the pool.

Visual documentation has been critical at a number of the police raids that have occurred around the country, as Occupy encampments have been dismantled, sometimes violently. The Boston eviction appears to have unfolded peacefully.

A police officer said the department was taking its own internal video of officers’ interactions with protesters.