After 10 days of relative peace in the financial district of Boston, the first major round of arrests at #OccupyBoston were made around 1 am earlier today, when Boston Police in ritot gear apprehended 100 protesters who had set up a second camp in a new location.
The Boston Globe provided a very detailed account of the arrests, including the fact that police did issue a warning that arrests would be made if people in the park did not disperse. In addition, WCVB-TV Boston reported this morning that the camp's new location had just been planted with $150,000 worth of new plantings.
The Globe confirmed the police's reasons for the arrests when it reported:
Officials do not want the protesters, who originally settled in Dewey Square, to occupy the space across Congress Street on the Greenway because it recently underwent a renovation project where expensive improvements were added, according to Elaine Driscoll, police spokeswoman.
OccupyBoston issued a statement yesterday:
“From the beginning, occupiers have worked tirelessly to maintain a positive working relationship with city officials. Today’s threats by the Boston Police Department represent a sudden shift away from that dialogue,” the statement said.
This morning on the Jim and Margery show, police commissioner Paul Davis suggested that even though the relationship between the BPD and the protesters has been positive and peaceful, a new group of "anarachists" had been influencing the movement in the last 24 hours.
Here is a rough video of a Boston TV report that was broadcast early this morning.