Thousands of people rallied in Dorchester's Franklin Park Tuesday evening for a third consecutive day of Boston demonstrations against racism and police brutality. Despite the huge crowds, there were no significant conflicts between protesters and police.
The event, organized by Boston’s Black Lives Matter group and the non-profit Violence in Boston, is part of a nationwide spate of demonstrations sparked by the recent deaths of three unarmed black individuals who have become rallying cries: George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Floyd and Taylor were killed by police; Arbery was chased and killed by a retired police officer and his son.
Tuesday's protest began with people sitting down to block Blue Hill Avenue for eight minutes and 47 seconds — the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer pinned Floyd to the pavement with his knee on Floyd’s neck.
After the “die-in,” the crowd moved towards the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital where organizers rallied the crowd with speeches.
"The purpose of this is not just for George Floyd, right,” said Violence In Boston co-founder Monica Cannon-Grant. “The purpose of this is for Burrell Ramsey. The purpose of this is for Terrence Coleman,” she said referencing two men killed in police-involved shootings in Boston, Ramsey in 2012 and Coleman in 2016.
Natasha Mays was among the huge, mask-clad crowd Tuesday. She disputed the notion that Boston is free from police violence.
"That's of course a false narrative,” she said in an interview with WGBH News. “There's injustices everywhere that you don't see until it's heard. I hate people who downplay that — speaking not just for Boston but for every city that's dealing with the same thing."
Prior to the event, organizers went to great lengths to emphasize that it was to a remain a peaceful demonstration.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Boston Sunday in peaceful protests that culminated in a large gathering in front of the State House. But after dark, protesters clashed with police and vandals and looters smashed windows and sacked stores in the city’s Back Bay and Downtown Crossing neighborhoods. Fifty-three peoplewere arrested and nine police officers sustained injuries requiring hospitalization.
On Monday night, hundreds assembled for a peaceful silent vigil in the city’s West Roxbury neighborhood that ended with no disruptions.
Residents near the Franklin Park protest site hoped Tuesday night’s event would follow the same pattern.
Along Blue Hill Avenue, where a handful of businesses were boarded up ahead of the event, Roxbury resident Rochelle Chance was handing out pizza and water to protesters as they were arriving at the park, saying she was concerned for her neighborhood.
"We don't want to feel like tomorrow this won't be here for us,” Chance said about the neighborhood. “A lot of the businesses here are black-owned, minority-owned. This is all we have, and we work hard for it."
Tito Jackson, a former Boston City Councilor and another organizer of Tuesday’s protest, told WGBH News he expected the demonstration to be “a peaceful, thoughtful event.”
“I’m not saying that people shouldn't be angry because they should be angry. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't act with urgency,” Jackson said.
Cannon-Grant took to social media ahead of the event to reassure participants it would proceed calmly.
“I have spoken with the Mayor, the Attorney General, the city council, my state rep, as well as [Police Commissioner] Willie Gross,” Cannon-Grant said. “If you show up and act stupid regardless of what color you are, we will remove you,” she said.
Toward the end of the protest, three local musicians from a group called Play For Justice performed a moving rendition of Deep River on cello and viola. The entire crowd stood silently, heads bowed, while activists held up posters with the faces of individuals who died at the hands of police.
The event ended without disruptions, but tensions with police appeared to flare as thousands of protestors departed the park after the rally and dark began to fall.
The group splintered into smaller crowds to protest at other spots around the city. Several hundred laid down in an impromptu demonstration in front of the Boston Police Headquarters on Warren Street. Police tracked the dwindling groups late into the night with no significant conflicts.
Demonstrators also gathered at separate events in the region Tuesday, including Charlestown, Brockton, Lowell and Quincy. The heaviest escalation Tuesday night appeared to be in Brockton, where news footage showed plumes of tear gas billowing in the city streets as police and protesters clashed.
