#OccupyBoston: Some Thoughts on the 12/10 Raid Restrictions on Press Freedom the Greenway and the Future

It should come as no surprise to regular Open Media Boston viewers that I found the City of Boston’s destruction of the Occupy Boston encampment in Dewey Square on Saturday morning unnecessary and ill-considered. Moreover the way the Boston Police Department raid on the camp was conducted - while less violent than their destruction of the Occupy Boston extension camp in October - was highly problematic. From the large number of police at the scene to the LRAD sonic cannon that I personally photographed on Summer Street next to the Federal Reserve Building (and which fortunately remained unused) it was overkill from start to finish. Especially the effort that was expended to keep the news media away while the camp was being removed. As a working photojournalist I was prevented from entering Dewey Square by the police while the raid was happening - and for some time afterwards. As was the rest of the press corps on hand. And those reporters already in place when the raid started (for example every TV news crew in town was there overnight - with some stations fielding two production vans) were immediately forced to leave the area by the police. The only exception I'm aware of is one cameraman from WBZ-TV that was allowed in to shoot pool video for the rest of the media during the arrests - and if you watch the video you'll see that even he gets hassled by the police around minute ten. Occupiers attempting to record police actions on site during the raid had an even worse time of it. According to eyewitness accounts the police - many with tape over their badge numbers - pointed flashlights into the lenses of occupiers’ camera to prevent them from taking photos and videos on the proceedings (ironic since the Boston Globe had a crew high up in the nearby Intercontinental Hotel recording everything anyway) and focused on the Occupy Boston Livestream teams for special harassment - doubtless aware that large numbers of people were watching live around the world. The police briefly let credentialed press back on site just before 6 a.m. once the arrestees had been spirited away - and I always wear credentials in the field; so I was there. But after 2 or 3 minutes I was approached by a high ranking police official and told to leave the wreckage of the encampment and join the press conference that had been hastily organized at the end of the block. And sure he was nice about it and I was nice back - explaining how I had been delayed in arriving on the scene by the police roadblock at the South Station exit on the Central Artery (another questionable move by the city). And yeah I was glad to be able to record some of the destruction before everything was cleared away by the bulldozer and dump trucks that the Boston Public Works department brought in. But there is no excuse for the City of Boston to have prevented the news media from doing our jobs. Covering the news in the public interest. An activity which is protected under the First Amendment. I mean c'mon. Chris Faraone my colleague from the Boston Phoenix who has covered Occupy Boston on the ground more than pretty much any other reporter since the start of the movement was denied access even to the press conference. Ostensibly because he wasn't carrying press credentials. However such credentials are not legally required; so the police were making an arbitrary decision from word one there. And he was wearing his Phoenix jacket. Like who else would wear a freakin' Phoenix jacket if they weren't a Phoenix reporter? Just ridiculous. Also I find the role of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy in leading the clamor to remove the Occupy Boston encampment to be most unfortunate. It’s just strange to me that public land is handed over to a private non-profit controlled by corporate lawyers and business executives - and that their vision of “appropriate use” of the the long necklace of underutilized parks strung from North Station to Chinatown trumps the need for significant public space to be available for the expression of free speech in largely privatized Boston. So I hope to take a closer look at the workings of that organization in the near future. And I call bullshit on all the media focus on the $40-60 000 it's going to cost to repair the park - especially considering at least some of the damage was done by the Boston Police and the heavy equipment the city threw around the park as part of the raid. Riddle me this: what's more likely to have damaged underground sprinkler lines a few hundred pounds of tent equipment and occupiers on any given part of the camp or a multi-ton Public Works bulldozer? Gee ... that's a tough one right? Puleeze. But more to the point as another colleague of mine Suren Moodliar of Massachusetts Global Action put it earlier today "that's the cost of free speech" and let's compare that to the multi-billion dollar boondoggle of the Big Dig - from which the Greenway sprung - and see which cost is more harmful to our body politic. All that said what’s done is done. Once Judge Frances McIntyre handed down her decision against Occupy Boston last week it was only a matter of time before the Dewey Square camp was leveled and turned back into a park that sits vacant most of the time. [Although who knows maybe now that Occupy Boston made it famous the Dewey Square park will become more popular. It'll certainly become a pilgrimage site for occupiers at the very least.] While it’s important to make sure that the First Amendment issues raised by the raid are fought to a just legal conclusion and that a good hard look is taken at the administration of the Greenway it’s even more important for the Occupy Boston movement to look to the future. So it’s great to see the profusion of working group meetings general assemblies and actions in the immediate aftermath of the raid without so much as a moment’s pause. And it’s hilarious to watch the sharks in the local news media and assorted right-wing cranks on social media who all thought the end of the camp would be the end of the movement have to eat their words as the occupiers keep moving from strength to strength. The continuation of the intense organizing activity of the last few months speaks to a movement very much in the ascendant. Which is as should be. And I feel certain that the occupiers will work out their logistical issues at speed and stay in the fight for the long haul. I therefore wish Occupy Boston well and pledge to continue this publication’s fair and accurate coverage of the movement ... whether or not the City of Boston wants to continue trying to periodically prevent us from doing so. In violation of every democratic principle this nation was founded upon. Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati