Veterans among those arrested at Occupy Boston

Veterans for Peace's monthly meeting at St. Peter's Church in Cambridge was interrupted by a phone call Oct. 10 that presented another opportunity for the group to serve their country.

"We got a message that the police were going to overrun the (Occupy Boston) camp site," said Pat Scanlon, Veterans for Peace's Boston area coordinator. "So we stopped our meeting, and our members went right over to the site."

The Occupy Boston encampment at Dewey Square Park had enjoyed a peaceful, if not benign, relationship with Boston Police during its initial 10 days, with hardly any occupiers arrested. The honeymoon ended Oct. 10, when the tent city grew to encompass a nearby portion of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservatory. Dewey Square Park, Occupy Boston's city-permitted site, was no longer large enough to safely accommodate their growing numbers, they said.

According to a statement issued by the Boston Police, the area of Occupy Boston's second encampment "had recently undergone a costly renovation to improve the green space." The police gave the protesters until midnight to depart from the new, unauthorized location.

Occupy Boston faced an ultimatum: Keep off the grass or face the consequences.

"We said ‘We're here to protect you!' We didn't protect them very well, but we took the first hit," recalled Scanlon, a 64-year-old who worked in Army Intelligence during the Vietnam War.

Formed in the mid-‘80s, Veterans for Peace have a long history of activism against what they feel are unjust wars, but they are also known to support causes such as the Occupy movement's rallying cry for economic justice.

As of 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, the protesters were refusing to budge, and a small army of police descended on the encampment. The police were blocked by just-over-a-dozen people, arms locked, chanting, "We are veterans of the United States Military!"

"I told (the occupiers) that I'd be glad to take a hit any day for what they're trying to do," said Scanlon, speaking of the occupiers. "They were saying we're the heroes because we were out in front. But they're the heroes for what they're trying to do."

"What do you call them? The security squad? The ones who wear the black uniform with the heavy shoulder pads or whatever? They came at us like a battering ram. Just plowed us over," said Vietnam vet Jesse Perrier of Winthrop.

Scanlon said he wasn't sure whether it was three, four or five officers who pounded on him before hauling him into the police wagon. He said one of his Veterans for Peace compatriots, a 74-year-old, recalls being hit in the knee with what he believed to be a baton.

"Some of our guys were really knocked on their asses," Perrier continued. "I was on the edge, and was knocked into the grass, but I saw them take a young Iraq vet by the neck and drag her off. I've videotaped a lot of demonstrations, but I haven't seen anything like this since the ‘70s."

According to a statement issued by the Boston Police, "Although our officers faced active resistance from protestors including being spit on (sic), our officers maintained a respectful, professional and proportional posture."

"They were all standing there peacefully," said Perrier. "Nobody confronted or moved onto the police. They didn't need to be brutally attacked like this."

The 141 demonstrators arrested that night included four members of Veterans for Peace, including Scanlon, who spent the night in prison. A sympathetic judge dropped charges of trespassing and unlawful assembly against the vets, but other protesters were not so fortunate.

"I went to the doctor's the next day, and my doctor yelled at me for doing this," said Perrier. "I had stomach cancer, and had heavy chemo that caused a heart attack. I'm not supposed to shovel show. I'm not in great physical shape to be knocked down. I didn't expect them to come ramming through. If they had asked us to step aside, I would've stepped aside."