City of Boston to put Anti-Dem Protesters in a Cage

[Evilmav2]

Convention Protesters Upset With Site

Sun Jul 25, 5:36 AM ET

By MARK JEWELL, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - As thousands of delegates, journalists and dignitaries stream into the FleetCenter, protesters for the next few days will be enclosed in a shadowy, closed-off piece of urban streetscape just over a block away.

The maze of overhead netting, chain link fencing and razor wire couldn't be further in comfort from the high-tech confines of the arena stage where John Kerry (news - web sites) is to accept the Democratic nomination for president during the four-day convention that kicks off Monday.

Abandoned, elevated rail lines and green girders loom over most of the official demonstration zone that slopes down to a subway station closed for the duration. To avoid hitting girders, tall protesters will have to duck at one end of the 28,000-square-foot zone. Train tracks obscure the line of sight to much of the FleetCenter. Concrete blocks were set around streets in the area, a transportation hub on the north side of downtown.

Protesters likened the site Saturday to a concentration camp as they complained it is too far from the FleetCenter to get their messages across, even though the site is next to a parking lot where many delegates will pass on foot en route to the arena.

Authorities say — and a judge agreed — the discomforts are needed for security in the post-Sept. 11 era.

On a rainy morning made darker by overhead girders, protest leaders held a news conference at the demonstration zone Saturday to object to the site. Some called it a violation of their free-speech rights. As they spoke, pools of rainwater collected on pavement.

"We don't deserve to be put in a detention center, a concentration camp," said Medea Benjamin of San Francisco. "It's tragic that here in Boston, the birthplace of democracy, our First Amendment rights are being trampled on."

Two fellow protesters from the anti-war group Code Pink, who dressed in pink Statue of Liberty garb, taped their mouths shut. Some activists said while they understand the need for security, organizers went overboard.

"We are on high, high red alert for the protection of our civil liberties," said Claryce Evans, national coordinator for United Peace and Justice. American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) and National Lawyers Guild attorneys asked a federal judge to open up or move the zone.

U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock this past week called the conditions "an affront to free expression" and a "festering boil." He refused to order changes, but is letting protesters march past the site Sunday. A coalition of protesters appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites).

Authorities said they were lowering the maximum number of protesters to 1,000, from a previous 4,000, because of concerns of overcrowding.

[u2sarajevo]

I think the whole idea of protesting a Convention is suspect at best. I can't imagine anyone I know wasting time protesting something that is going to go on anyway.

Although, I will say that I do protest the Democratic platform. But you won't see me in Boston this week.

[MavKikiNYC]

One of the most semi-ironic, semi-nauseating things I've heard from the anti-Republican protesters organizing their little circle jerk for NYC is that they DESERVE a MEANINGFUL place to express their protest, and that they are ENTITLED to water along the protest route (paid for by the city), transportation to the protest site (paid for by the city) and a sound-system (again, paid for by the city). I am so hoping for broiling heat or pelting rain on the days of the convention.

IMO, 'protesting' a political convention in this manner is one of the least productive, least meaningful gestures available. It's the expressive equivalent of a 2-year old's tantrum at being told no.

Instead of mobilizing to try to disrupt an opponent's convention, why not mobilize IN SUPPORT OF the party/candidate/position you favor. Buy airtime to broadcast your program's views....buy billboard space...buy ad space. Conduct some kind of positive-oriented public demonstration--..hell, pick up trash in Central Park, rather than congregating a few thousand miscreants who would trample the grass, clog the subways, disrupt traffic, and leave a mountain of garbage behind. Make a positive statement as opposed to an empty, petulant squeal.

They claim it as their way of expressing their 1st Amendment rights, but it sure seems pretty empty and pointless to me.

[Evilmav2]

Well at least one anti-Kerry protester will be able to express his opinions about Bush and the Dem convention without being locked up in a cage. The owner of this establishment (located within a block of the Fleet center) has been cited and threatened by the city of Boston for putting up this sign, but he's refused to take it down...

[LRB]

1st amendment rights guarrantee free speech not the right to entitlement. IMO there is far too much sense of entitlement in our society today. I think that security has to come before the comforts of protesters in this day and age where we are in the midst of a war on terrorism. These people, both the one's protesting the dems and the one's protesting the GOP, will still have their ablity to voice their opinions. That freedom is in no way taken away if they don't get every luxary that they feel that they are entitled to.

[Evilmav2]