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News :: Environment |
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Sleep-Out on Boston Common Continues Despite Police |
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by Leadership Campaign
(No verified email address) |
06 Nov 2009
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[Boston, MA] Scores of college students and community members gathered on Boston Common in front of the Massachusetts State House yesterday evening to call on Governor Patrick to introduce a bill that will re-power the Commonwealth with 100% clean electricity by 2020. They were joined by Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ. |
November 1st is the second Sunday of sleep-outs in which participants will refuse to sleep in their dormitories and homes powered by dirty electricity until a plan is in place for them to run on clean electricity.
The night was interrupted at 3:00AM by approximately 12 Boston Police Officers supervised by Sergeant Friere. The officers woke up every tent to gather identification and record information. They departed with the threat of issuing citations for all present. This is the first time the Leadership Campaign has had serious interactions with law enforcement.
The Leadership Campaign, a network of primarily college students across the state, are calling on the Governor to introduce and pass a bill they have written by December 7th, the first day of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“The police arrived in the middle of the night and woke us all up, demanding identification from everyone. I overheard officers say that they were ordered to act by superiors within the department. All the officers were courteous and stated they would not be arresting anyone, but they did suggest the possibility of citations.” Jonathan Rosenthal, Leadership Campaign participant said.
“Physics and chemistry are poor negotiators; they act independently of public policy and we need to recognize that,” Dominique McCadden, Boston Recruitment Coordinator said. “We are ready for encounters with law enforcement as we understand the serious nature of global climate disruption. We are prepared to see this through until the necessary legislation is passed.”
Participants in the Leadership Campaign have organized at over 20 campuses state-wide. They are sleeping on the Common every Sunday night and lobbying the Statehouse legislators every Monday morning. For more information, visit their website at http://www.theleadershipcampaign.org
Come out and join this Sunday night on the Common. We are calling for over 100 people to participate. Also there will be groups brainstorming for future actions in the Boston area for later this month, including November 30th. |
This work is in the public domain. |
