As many as 2,000 “hostile” protesters surrounded police, some throwing bottles filled with urine and punching and spitting at cops as they tried to escort participants from Saturday’s “Free Speech Rally” out of Boston Common, according to police reports filed in court yesterday.
The crowd answered an order to disperse with “a barrage of insults directed toward the officers,” the police narrative states. As cops in riot gear began pushing back the crowd with their batons and shields, “they were met with violent resistance,” the reports state. One riot cop’s face shield was cracked, while protesters tried to rip off the officers’ protective gear and grabbed one officer’s radio.
The reports filed for the arraignment yesterday of 18 of the 33 people who were arrested Saturday indicate a large-scale outbreak of violence in what was otherwise widely hailed as a peaceful protest by 40,000 counterdemonstrators.
Raymond M. Delouchrey, 28, of Taunton, was charged with disorderly conduct after he allegedly took a swing at a motorcycle cop in a bid to block the motorcade and “incite the volatile crowd.”
Shaun P. Pettey, 33, of Boston, allegedly tried to force his way through a line of officers while they were trying to arrest several protesters. When police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd, Pettey began throwing punches at the police and reached for a knife, the report says. He was charged with disorderly conduct, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and assault with a dangerous weapon
Shawn Vieira, 26, of East Boston, allegedly bloodied his knuckles after punching several people in the crowd on Boston Common, police said. He is also alleged to have had a large folding knife in his pocket. He was charged with disturbing the peace.
After being arrested, the police stated, another man defecated in a holding cell, smeared feces on the walls and kicked and banged the door of the cell. He was taken to Boston Medical Center for a mental evaluation.
Outside of court, Delouchrey told the Herald, “I got relatives and nieces who are colored. I didn’t like the fascists. I tried to cross the street. The motorcycle came and they said I tried to cut the police off.”
Vieira told the Herald he bloodied his knuckles when he “punched one of the Nazis after he grabbed a woman. This guy was going after a black trans woman saying ‘you’re not a he’ and ‘you’re not a she, you’re an it’ … He reached out to grab this woman.”
Fifteen other people were charged with disturbing a public assembly, being disorderly and resisting arrest yesterday. Several remaining suspects will be arraigned today.
