December 3, 2011
As I travel across the country on my #Occutour, I’m asking people at each encampment why they have chosen to participate in the Occupy movement. I’ll then be posting some of what people tell me to Storify, but you can also follow along on Twitter with the hashtag: #WhyOccupy.
December 2, 2011
This is where I was arrested on October 11.
Last night’s clash over a kitchen sink between Occupy Boston and local law enforcement was pretty volatile – there were several skirmishes between police and protesters, including three initial arrests and one in which a man is said to have punched an officer. But it still ranks far below the night of October 11 when 142 people were arrested as the activists tried to expand the encampment to another nearby section of the Greenway.
I know because I was there that night, as well, covering the event for a Rhode Island radio station. In fact, I was one of the…
December 2, 2011
Occupy Boston activists prevent a police paddy wagon from leaving with its newly-donated kitchen sink.
Occupiers were largely giddy last night, and the police officers that I spoke with this morning pretty grouchy, after an intense stand-off the night before over not economic injustice, public safety or constitutional rights … but rather a kitchen sink.
And it makes sense, as that sink will likely become one of the prevailing symbols of the Occupy movement.
After two hours of some of the most tense moments for Boston’s Occupation, activists in the media tent began scouring local news websites to see how the story was playing. Some media outlets led with the three protesters who were arrested, but…
December 1, 2011
In a very tense situation at Occupy Boston tonight, police took a donated sink from the camp. Activists tried to prevent them from taking it, and actually stopped a paddy wagon on Atlantic Avenue for about 15 minutes. Once they were threatened with the camp being evicted if they didn’t disperse, they cleared the road, saying they were giving police the sink as a Christmas present.
December 1, 2011
Philip Anderson and Ariel Oshinky field questions from reporters after a hearing on whether or not Occupy Boston has a First Amendment right to camp in Dewey Square.
A judge today extended a temporary injunction that will allow Occupy Boston to stay in Dewey Square for at least another two weeks without having to worry that the city will forcibly evict the protesters from their downtown encampment, according to several people in the courtroom.
“We do see this as a victory,” said Occupier Philip Anderson, as he emerged from a courtroom in the Suffolk County Courthouse, just a short walk from Dewey Square, after the judge listened to some fours hours of testimony from both sides.
The judge said she will render a decision in that time on…
December 1, 2011
Two Occupiers on early-morning safety patrol.
My first night at an Occupy encampment and the first thing I heard when I woke up was the sound of authority enforcing the rules. But it wasn’t the local police; it was a 21-year-old Occupier named Richard who was on “safety patrol.”
A woman named Debbie had come to Burnside Park, smoking a joint, to take her friend out for breakfast, she said. Richard, however, told her there was a rule against non-Occupiers going near the tents while people were sleeping (this was about 5:30) – not to mention openly smoking pot in downtown Providence.
Richard was dressed in…