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News :: Human Rights : Organizing |
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Boston Students Challenge Mayor on Police Violence, Less Lethal Weapons |
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by boston area student groups
Email: kegibson (nospam) MIT.edu (verified) |
05 Feb 2005
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On the eve of the Super Bowl, we as Boston area students call on Mayor Menino to publicly assert the need for Boston Police to protect the health and welfare of anyone who wishes to celebrate a New England Patriots victory in the streets of Boston. Bostonians have been gravely harmed by the police responses to public gatherings of sports fans, and the city must reverse course immediately. |
Boston Area Students Respond to Mayor Menino’s “Zero-Tolerance” Threats
Statement:
On the eve of the Super Bowl, we as Boston area students call on Mayor Menino to publicly assert the need for Boston Police to protect the health and welfare of anyone who wishes to celebrate a New England Patriots victory in the streets of Boston. Bostonians have been gravely harmed by the police responses to public gatherings of sports fans, and the city must reverse course immediately.
Students, who comprise a major part of the Boston area community, remain outraged at their official portrayal as "hooligans" and "thugs" somehow responsible for the death of Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove. The fact remains that this student was killed by an unjustified police action against a non-violent person. Nevertheless, Mayor Menino continues to scapegoat students, portraying them as violence prone and irresponsible.
Mayor Menino has advocated a “zero-tolerance” policy, warning our schools that "if they don't want to take consequences against their students, we'll find ways we can take consequences against the students." In striking contrast, Mayor Menino has not yet placed any responsibility for Snelgrove's death at the foot of those who killed her.
We represent Boston area students who object to this implicit threat which ignores the facts of the Snelgrove case, and absolves the police of any accountability regarding the misuse of force against non-violent public gatherings. In fact, it was the Boston Police who killed Snelgrove last fall by irresponsibly firing potentially lethal weapons at non-threatening bystanders in the Fenway. Boston Police never should have used the "less-lethal" guns with pepper pellets as a means for "crowd control" during the public celebration of a Red Sox pennant victory over the Yankees.
Menino's recent threats against students cannot detract from the fact that Boston Police have already killed one innocent person. We, the undersigned Boston area students, vow to hold Mayor Menino accountable for any injuries that result from the police's use of force - in particular, any involving "less-lethal" weapons - against non-violent Super Bowl celebrants this Sunday.
Signed,
- Boston College, the Global Justice Project
- New England School of Law, Student Chaper of the National Lawyers Guild
- Harvard University, Harvard Social Forum
- Harvard University, Harvard Progressive Advocacy Group
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Free Radicals
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Social Justice Cooperative
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Thistle Alternative News Collective
- New England School of Law, Student Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
- Northeastern University School of Law, Student Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
- Northeastern University School of Law, Anti-War Society
- Suffolk University Law School, Student Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
- Suffolk University Law School, Liberal Circle |
This work is in the public domain |
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