Boston Straight Pride
It was a fucking mess. Here are some highlights.
-there were probably like 10 white women and about 200 incel white men
-a bunch of the dudes made a point to set up right next to the holocaust memorial, as someone pointed out on twitter
-my personal twitter feed today was just bostonians taking pictures of the dumpsters outside their apartments and being like, “look at the straight pride parade, everyone!”
-businesses along their march route prepared by putting up lgbt flags or signs that said “go home alt-right scum”
-the floats were just trump 2020 floats
-milo fucking yiannopoulos showed up and made a speech but there were so many counter-protesters that no one could understand what he was saying
-legit there were counter-protesters flooding the streets. lots of rainbow and trans pride flags out today
-small bands along the route popped up to drown out the white supremacists’ hate with good upbeat tunes
-this dude in a clown suit and his buddy in green face paint drove 8 hours to protest the ban of a legit incel subreddit. yes you heard me. apparently incels are “reclaiming” clowns?
(im not showing a pictures of him or milo or anyone else like them because im not giving them the attention they’re so clearly begging for)
-people legit just flipped off the marchers as they walked by
-then the police decided to start arresting people. apparently there were 34 arrests of counter-protesters in total
-eventually fights broke out
-BPD started punching and driving motorcycles at counter protesters who refused to move out of the way for the straight pride parade
-the police ended up using mace on the counter-protesters towards the end of the parade
-there are reports of tear gas use also though i haven’t seen any photos of it yet
That’s basically where we’re at rn in MA as of about 8pm.
I was there and the police were so openly and needlessly violent it was horrifying. I watched as a protestor was beaten by a crowd of police for bringing a plastic shield to protect themself. Beaten and carried away by four cops, one holding each limb.
In areas where protestors were already surrounded by cops in roads that had been blocked off specifically for protestors, police rode in on bikes and motorcycles for no other reason than to clash with protestors. Several people refused to move out of the way and were beaten and arrested.
Several times throughout the day I found myself being pushed along in groups of people who were running to get out of the way of cops who had pepper spray. Whenever the cops wanted people to move they attacked them with mace.
Some people were beaten and sprayed so horribly that they couldn’t walk and they were either dragged away by their comrades or by police.
At the end of the protest, the alt-right speakers overstayed their permit in the plaza. The police did not force them to move and did not pepper spray them. Pepper spray was reserved for us queers, not the fascists.
While people stood outside the plaza at the end of the protest, police actively mocked and taunted protestors.
From the arrests that I witnessed the police seemed to be specifically targeting people who were visibly trans, POC, or disabled.
Between the alt right rally and the protestors was a fenced off section where the cops stood. They were facing towards the protestors. Many had their badge numbers covered with black tape or were hiding their badges. Some of the cops took out their batons to intimidate peaceful protestors.
Cops are not our allies. Cops do not serve us. They do not protect us. They are instruments of the fascist state used to keep us silent and obedient. It is their job to silence us. It is their job to specifically target poc, disabled people, queer people, and the working class as a whole. They know this when they commit to their job. There are no good cops. There are no cops for the people. They are class traitors and are a military designed to be used against the people. Do not forget what they have done today. Do not let this get quiet. Get angry. Get loud about it. It doesn’t matter what state you live in, you are not safe from police brutality. None of us are. Protest it wherever you are. Protest in the name of the 34 people who were arrested today and the many peaceful protestors who are washing pepper spray from their eyes tonight.
