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Boston police deal with rowdier protests on convention's last dayBOSTON -- After four days of relative calm, protests turned tense outside the site of the Democratic National Convention as demonstrators burned a U.S. flag and a two-faced effigy depicting President Bush on one side and Sen. John Kerry on the other.
The roughly 400 protesters who marched through the city arrived outside the fenced-in demonstration area near the FleetCenter, where a shoving match erupted as the throng pressed up against police officers who struck back at them with batons to keep the crowd at bay.
Several protesters were dragged from the crowd and handcuffed by police. Others screamed at the officers to let them go. Two people were arrested for disorderly conduct and a third for assault and battery on a police officer. Officers confiscated bolt cutters from one of the people who was arrested and a fake incendiary device -- a papier-m Fach De Molotov cocktail -- from another, said Boston police spokeswoman Beverly Ford. Still, protesters insisted they were being misrepresented as violent instigators. "These anarchist kids are not who you think they are," said Charles Shaw, 34, a Green Party activist from Chicago who helped organize Thursday's march. Taking note of the gear that police officers were carrying -- batons, pepper spray and body armor -- Shaw said, "You know what I've got, man? I've got a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. I can't attack that." 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 the confrontation but did not enter the fray. Police Superintendent Robert 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. Ben, 19, a protester from Florida who did not give his last name, said he saw one of the people detained. He said the protester was dressed as a pirate and wearing a papier-m Fach De hook on his arm. Police try to take it away, thinking it was a weapon, he said. "They grabbed it, he pushed back. They slammed him on the ground," Ben said. Witnesses said the incident touched off the pushing and shoving between police and demonstrators. "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. Six protesters were injured by police, but none seriously, said Elly Guillette, of the Bl(a)ck Tea Society, an ad hoc group of self-described anarchists and anti-authority activists formed a year ago to stage protests for the convention. Continued... |
