Boston officials pleaded with demonstrators to “respect our city” after an outburst of violence that sent flames, shards of glass and bullets ripping through the streets forcing business owners and volunteers to clean up the mess Monday.
“I’m asking everyone to respect our city and our community. Respect those who are protesting peacefully — tens of thousands of people that protested peacefully. … Let’s keep our city safe,” Mayor Martin Walsh said in an emotional appeal to demonstrators as more protests are planned in the days ahead.
Walsh recounted a “frightening” night of violence that erupted late Sunday — sending nine police officers and 18 bystanders to the hospital.
Of the 53 people arrested between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Monday, the most serious accusation was against 37-year-old John Boampong of Dorchester, charged with intent to murder and other illegal gun charges after police say he sprayed bullets at officers standing on near the Four Seasons Hotel on Boylston Street in the early hours of Monday morning.
“Police officers were hit with sticks and bottles and fireworks. Cruisers were torn apart and set on fire. Stores were smashed up and robbed,” Walsh said, noting “untold” economic damage done to local businesses struggling to make ends meet amid the coronavirus pandemic that has kept businesses closed for more than two months.
City Council President Kim Janey thanked police, who she said toned down their presence and riot gear after she and other black community leaders raised concerns following violent clashes with protesters earlier in the weekend.
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Graffiti is seen on the back of the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment memorial on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Boston Mayor Martin Walsh listens during a news conference with Attorney General Maura Healey, Black activists and clergy to address racial injustice and pledge their joint commitment to structural change at the Garden of Peace on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Jake Ravanis, left, Kristen Donnelly, Christine Feeley, Rayann Staude and Sarah Liberty clean up debris from the front of a Newbury Street store on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. The group marched in the protest Sunday and decided to volunteer their time to help small businesses that had been vandalized. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: A worker secures boards as a passer by takes photos of graffiti on the Apple Store on Boylston Street on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Graffiti is seen outside the State House on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Graffiti is seen on the back of the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment memorial on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: A worker power washes graffiti from the front of the Chanel store on Newbury Street on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Graffiti is seen on the back of the Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment memorial on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: The H & M store on Boylston Street is seen after it was vandalized on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: A worker cleans graffiti from the Newbury Hotel on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Workers remove a damaged window from the Brooks Brothers store on Newbury Street on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: A worker measures graffiti on the wall of the Newbury Hotel on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: The Cartier store on Newbury Street is boarded up following vandalism on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Passersby are reflected on the glass while observing damage at H & M on Boylston Street on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Raj Dhanda, owner of Neena's Lighting, is seen in his Boylston Street store after it was looted on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: A man walks through the shattered glass door at the H & M store on Boylston Street after it had been vandalized on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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BOSTON, MA - JUNE 1: Shoes and a mannequin torso are seen outside a vandalised Uggs store on Newbury Street on June 1, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Angela Rowlings/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
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Boston, MA - 6/1/20 - Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at his daily press briefing and addresses the violence that took place last night in Boston following a peaceful demonstration in the memory of George Floyd. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff) POOL PHOTO
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Boston, MA - 6/1/20 - Boston Police Commissioner William Gross speaks during Mayor Marty Walsh's daily press briefing and addresses the violence that took place last night in Boston following a peaceful demonstration in the memory of George Floyd. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff) POOL PHOTO
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FILE - In this May 27, 2020 file photo, workers build a protective barrier as construction resumed on the New York Islanders' new arena, in Elmont, N.Y. U.S. construction spending fell 2.9% in April with all major sectors dropping as the shutdowns from the coronavirus had a big impact on the construction industry. The Commerce Department said that the April decline followed a basically flat reading in March (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
She condemned violence against both police and protesters saying in a statement, “we cannot allow interlopers to co-opt our movement for their own agenda.”
Looters and rioters shattered windows and stole merchandise from dozens of businesses from Back Bay to Downtown Crossing and lit fires across Boston Common as the protests turned violent, prompting Gov. Charlie Baker to move in the Massachusetts National Guard as policing took a distinctly more militant tone and pepper balls rained down over the crowd.
The MBTA shut down subway stations from Government Center to Copley Square — something a spokeswoman said the agency was prepared to do again “in the event further demonstrations are planned that may affect the safe operation of the MBTA.”
Protests have deteriorated to violence in dozens of cities across the nation as people take to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and in opposition to a culture of police brutality and what Janey described as “state-sanctioned killings of unarmed black people.”
In many cities, those protests have lasted for nights — sowing chaos that has left a path of destruction and burned buildings in their wake. In Boston, the coming days are expected to bring myriad more protests — demonstrations of free speech Walsh has promised to allow to continue. Meanwhile, State Police have vowed to fortify the city in efforts of “maintaining order and preventing crime.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2BozcpE
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