Boston Beatdown: Police rough up Veterans for Peace, arrest 100 in retaking second #OccupyBoston location

Published Oct 11 2011, 04:21 AM by Carly Carioli

We'll have more in the morning. If you want the full story, we'll point you to our Twitter feed, where we've been covering #OccupyBoston -- and the Boston Police crackdown that sent at least 100 to city jails early Tuesday morning -- in real time, from our cell phones. Many thanks to the countless Twitter followers who helped by supplying information from the ground, photos, videos, and reporting.

You'll want to see this: Video of the beginning of the arrests: the first to go were members of Veterans for Peace. One Vietnam vet said he was tackled and injured a knee, but was not arrested -- and that he was disgusted by the "relish" with which the BPD performed its duties. He said a fellow member of the group, a female veteran of Iraq, was among the arrested. Since these videos are muddy, let's spell this one out for you: we've got cops puting the screws to U.S. war vets holding American flags.

Here are photos of the arrests that took place as police cleared the park.

According to Open Media Boston, "the arrests were conducted by elements of the Boston Police Dept, Transit Police and State Police plus Suffolk County Sheriff's," with assistance from "Boston Park Dept, Boston DPW, Boston Park Dept and Boston EMS." In video, an officer says that Occupiers will be charged with tresspass and unlawful assembly. According to Boston.com blogger Garrett Quinn, all the arrested occupiers will be arraigned tomorrow in Boston Municipal Court. Quinn also reported that not all of the arresting officers were displaying badge numbers or names.

We'd guess -- and this is a guess, not a count -- that there were hundreds of officers, and dozens of support staff. Earlier in the evening, we saw tactical units in uniform, but without riot gear, lounging on High Street. Boston EMS set up a tent near the park, with about 15 ambulances on hand. Asked how many people they had on the scene, one EMS tech said, "A lot." Asked what their tent was for, he joked, "Well, you got a bunch of tents over there."

Before the cops showed up, Occupiers linked arms at both camps. And they remained that way through the tense standoff preceding the arrests.

As the cops moved in, Chief Davis was on the scene, and he briefly spoke to reporters afterwards, telling them that the police would have a long-term relationship with the Dewey Square encampment, and acknowledging the national movement of which it is a part. THroughout the evening, Superintendent in Chief Daniel Linskey could be seen giving orders. Around 11 pm, Linskey arrived at the new encampment and began passing out leaflets apprising the protestors of their rights. A legal advisor for the Occupiers refused to receive it, but many copies were handed off to individual occupiers. In an impromptu interview, Linskey told reporters that there was no midnight deadline for the Occupiers to leave the site, and that the Globe's reporting of such a deadline was inaccurate. He was clear that the protestors needed to move, but suggesed that the timeline might be days as opposed to hours. Of course, by then he knew quite well when his men would be moving. Listen to Linskey's remarks on Phoenix reporter Liz Pelly's Tumblr (apologies -- the audio was re-recorded from one iPhone to another for mobile upload).

More in the morning. We're all collapsing . . .