Convention city springs to lifeSecurity is high, mood upbeat; protest falls shortAn antiwar march to the FleetCenter planned as the first major protest of convention week fell far short of the thousands expected, but the city still crackled with energy yesterday as protesters, delegates, and onlookers mingled on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
Delegates fanned out from their hotels and converged on nearly 30 official parties last night. Legions of law enforcement officers lined up at the State House and near the FleetCenter to handle unrest that never came. And on a day Bostonians found it nearly impossible to walk through the city without being handed political leaflets, groups from all over the political spectrum tried to grab attention with costumes, street theater, and even a giant human spine designed to urge presumptive Democratic nominee John F. Kerry to "develop a backbone." Despite an enormous security presence, including police in riot gear and helicopters, the mood through the city was largely upbeat under blue skies and a hot sun. Abortion foes rallied cheek-by-jowl with prochoicers at Faneuil Hall, and Mayor Thomas M. Menino and firefighters announced an 11th-hour agreement that averted a major embarrassment for the Democratic mayor hosting the city's first major national political convention. Menino's welcoming parties for state delegations went forward last night without the threatened pickets by city workers. At the Hynes Convention Center, state AFL-CIO president Bob Haynes greeted labor delegates to the convention with the words: "Welcome to historic Boston, a union town from top to bottom." A massive search of the area began shortly after midnight when a National Guardsman reported that he thought he saw parachutes descending in the vicinity of the Thomas P. O'Neill Federal Building on Causeway Street, which is adjacent to the FleetCenter. State Police used a helicopter with searchlights and infrared cameras to search the roof of the O'Neill building and the surrounding area but found nothing and concluded there had been no incident. "There is nothing on the roof," said Boston police officer Nadine Taylor-Miller at the joint information center. "We had an unconfirmed report, but they didn't find any people or parachutes." What was expected to be the biggest protest of the day -- an antiwar march from the Boston Common to the FleetCenter -- drew only 1,200 to 1,500 people, according to police estimates, far fewer than the 5,000 police expected. About the same number rallied in support of Israel in the North End. Other smaller groups included antiabortion protesters at Faneuil Hall and in the South End, and families of Sept. 11 victims who lugged a 1,400-pound granite memorial from the University of Massachusetts at Boston to Copley Square to remember victims of violence around the world.
RELATED AUDIO  Clip 1: Globe reporter Jenna Russell interviews protester Hali Vik Clip 2: Russell interviews protester Linda May EllisThere was only one protest-related arrest the entire day, although one participant in the antiwar march was taken into custody by Secret Service agents and later released. "It's been a good day," said Boston Police Superintendent James Claiborne, who oversaw the unified command center set up by several law enforcement agencies. Referring to protesters, he said, "Everyone adhered to what they told us they were going to do." Yesterday's antiwar rally and march had drawn attention not just for its potential size, but also for winning a key legal fight: after suing the city, its organizers were granted the right to march along Causeway Street in front of the FleetCenter, which had initially been declared off-limits to protest groups. The event, organized by the Boston chapter of International ANSWER: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, began with hundreds of people gathered on Boston Common, with informational tables, banners, costumes, and even origami cranes with bloodied beaks -- representing a spectrum of views. The march got underway at 2 p.m., snaking in front of the State House, down Bowdoin Street, and over to the FleetCenter, where the convention will officially kick off tonight. Though the FleetCenter was empty of delegates and political luminaries, Boston Police put on a show of force during the march, with clusters of officers walking the streets that lead to the FleetCenter. Others, joined by a few National Guard soldiers, stood watch from the elevated trolley tracks on Causeway Street. There are now 5,000 law enforcement personnel in Boston for the convention, according to police officials. But the march was uneventful, moving smoothly back to a closing rally on the Common. Some said the relatively low turnout reflected the controversial status of ANSWER within the antiwar movement. Among its founders are members of the Workers World Party, a group that has defended North Korea and Slobodan Milosevic. United for Peace and Justice, a more mainstream antiwar coalition, stayed away from yesterday's march, opting instead to attend the Boston Social Forum at UMass-Boston. In an antiabortion protest in downtown Boston, about 45 people lay on the pavement in front of Quincy Market around 1:30 p.m. to dramatize what speakers said were the 45 million fetuses that had been aborted since Roe v. Wade. Law enforcement officials reported that the only arrest yesterday related to the protests was a 50-year-old woman caught allegedly trying to set fire to an empty cereal box with a cigarette lighter outside the Old South Meeting House, according to Sean Hennessey, a spokesman for the Park Service. The woman was arrested after she tried to flee, he said. The marcher taken into custody yesterday afternoon on City Hall Plaza was followed by Secret Service for "acting in a suspicious manner for an extended period of time" near the FleetCenter, according to Ann Roman, a spokeswoman for the Secret Service. Roman said the man was "uncooperative" and refused to identify himself, but after being questioned and identified he was released. Other political statements included the giant, undulating backbone designed by artists in Washington state, which appeared at the annual Central Square World's Fair, and a small band of peace protesters who beat drums and walked down East Berkeley Street. Perhaps the most anticipated protests were the ones that didn't happen. At City Hall yesterday morning, Menino stood by leaders of Boston's firefighters' union to announce a settlement with the last large city union working without a contract. It came on the heels of agreements reached last week with the city's police unions, and averted the ugly prospect of picket lines at last night's welcoming parties. Labor leaders who had decried Menino's bargaining tactics called for an end to labor hostilities in the city. Richard Rogers, president of the Greater Boston Labor Council, said Menino is in line to be invited to this year's union-sponsored Labor Day breakfast, which he was pointedly excluded from last year.
Stephen Kurkjian, Shelley Murphy, Jonathan Saltzman, Jenna Russell, and Rick Klein of the Globe Staff, and Globe correspondents Heather Allen, Sofia Santana, and M. Robyn Jones contributed to this report. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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