Iraqi prison scandal, abortion among causes of demonstrators
Socialists in red T-shirts urged people to dump both Bush and Kerry. Activists wearing black hoods likened the fenced ''free speech zone" to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. And 25 women in Boston Common solemnly carried shrouded bundles that symbolized babies killed in Iraq.
The city was a kaleidescope of protest groups yesterday, the first day of the Democratic National Convention. And like the larger rallies and parades that took place Sunday, they were largely peaceful and uneventful, according to police.
The demonstrations ran the political gamut from a small antiabortion rally led by Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, to a protest by at least 150 pro-Palestinian activists. But most of the activists leaned toward the left.
Mary Alice Herbert, the vice-presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA, led a rally of about a dozen socialists in City Hall Plaza. Herbert, a retired 69-year-old schoolteacher from Putney, Vt., said that both Republicans and Democrats are so beholden to corporations that a vote for Senator John F. Kerry is pointless.
''Dumping Bush is not going to be enough," said Herbert, whose attire included a red T-shirt emblazoned with ''Pro-Choice and Anti-Capitalist." ''We really need to change the way we live."
The Socialist Party has called for repealing President Bush's tax cuts, halving the defense budget, withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, raising the minimum wage to $14 an hour, and providing free public education through college.
For many activists, the designated protest area across from the FleetCenter has become a source of ire. Several groups have boycotted the zone, worried about the danger -- and the symbolism -- of protesting inside the fencing and razor wire put up at the direction of police. The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in Boston, refused yesterday to grant an injunction sought by activists who wanted to open up or move the zone.
But other groups used the cramped area for theatrical purposes. A group calling itself Save Our Civil Liberties called the area ''Camp DNC" and likened it to detention centers at Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Then about 30 people covered their heads with black hoods and tied yellow cord around their wrists. A man pretending to be a prison guard ordered the demonstrators to kneel on the ground with heads bowed.
In the early evening, at least 150 members of a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups gathered in the same space to protest Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
''It's very symbolic that we are here in a cage standing in solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers," said Merrie Najimy of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Across town, a group supporting same-sex marriage picketed an evening party at the nightclub Avalon for gay and lesbian delegates, urging them to drop their support for Kerry over his backing of a Massachusetts constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
Marcella Bombardieri and Anand Vaishnav of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 