It was rush hour at a busy Central Square intersection.

Police said they had entered the building illegally, and charged with them with felonies.

The April 14 incident has sparked controversy over police policy on when to draw weapons, law enforcement harassment of political activists in advance of this summer’s Democratic National Convention, and possible violation of Cambridge’s anti-Patriot Act resolution.

Activists had first entered the abandoned Shell station in Lafayette Square—at the corner of Mass. Ave and Main Street—eleven days earlier, on April 3. The symbolic action was organized by a local housing advocacy group, Homes Not Jails, to coincide with the arrival of the statewide March Against Poverty.

After entering, they painted and hung banners on the walls, served a free meal, organized a clean-up of the lot, and began work on a flower garden. This was witnessed by police officers, who did not attempt to interfere and appeared unconcerned.

Eight activists re-entered the building on April 14 to prepare for an outdoor concert and fundraiser.

Two plainclothes agents then entered the building with guns drawn and aimed. Refusing to identify themselves, ordered the activists out of the building. Minutes later, seven uniformed Cambridge police arrived and handcuffed and arrested the activists, charging them at first with trespassing, a misdemeanor. That evening, charges were increased to felonies of breaking and entering, possession of burglarious materials, and "intent to commit a felony."

The incident has caused concern for a number of reasons. Some Cambridge residents see a disturbing trend in which police draw weapons without justification, and point to two recent incidents in which police drew guns on a group of young black men, and a group of black teens. Both groups were unarmed, critics say, and posed no threat.

Political activists also suspect the arrests are part of a pattern of intimidation leading up to this summer’s Democratic National Convention, to be held across the river in Boston.

In advance of other high-profile events involving protest and civil disobedience—such as the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia, and IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington DC—city police have conducted "pre-emptive arrests.

Trumped-up charges, court proceedings and the threat of jail time have forced defendants to abstain from political protest until after the high-profile meetings or conventions ended. Then defendants were virtually all cleared of charges, since there was little real evidence against them.

Several weeks before the Lafayette Square arrests, during President Bush’s March 25 visit to Boston which drew several hundred demonstrators, Richard Picariello was arrested in front of a police barricade near the hotel where Bush spoke, and charged with disturbing the peace.

The police report of the incident describes Picariello as "known to officers from prior pictures and his involvement in prior demonstrations," confirming what many activists already believe—that undercover police survey and photograph their political activities. The police report also states that Picariello "became loud and belligerent, to the dismay of the crowd gathering"—an unlikely claim, since others in the crowd were also demonstrating against Bush and would almost certainly have supported Picariello.

On May 27, Boston College student Joe Privetera stood on a milk crate in in front of a military recruitment center in downtown Boston, a black hood over his head and wires in his hands, imitating the infamous Iraqi prisoner photo. Police arrested him, charged him with the felony of making a false bomb threat—though he’d apparently made none—and at first set bail at $10,000, which they later waived.

"I think it’s a reflection of the times, and not a positive one," said attorney Daniel Beck, who is representing the Lafayette 8 as well as Picarillo and Privetera. "Civil liberties are seen as dangerous. This whole terrorism thing is being used as a way to suppress dissent, much as the threat of communism was used to suppress dissent in the Fifties… Anyone who is perceived as not agreeing with US foreign policy is perceived as dangerous, and I think that perception is really what’s dangerous."

Police in Boston are also said to be cracking down on local gangs and removing homeless people from the streets around North Station where the DNC will be held.

Some Cambridge citizens also speculate that their police department is co-operating with federal agents using tactics allowed under the USA-PATRIOT Act, since several of the Lafayette 8 defendants are also involved with the Black Tea Society, an anarchist group likely being monitored by Secret Service and Homeland Security agents because of their planned involvement in demonstrations during the DNC.

If so, this would violate a city council resolution passed in June of 2003 preserving residents’ privacy and freedom of speech and assembly by forbidding police from complying with the controversial act.

Addressing these concerns, Cambridge City Councilor Denise Simmons filed an order in the council which, among other things, requires City Manager Robert Healy to report to the council as to why guns were drawn during the arrests; what police department policy is on drawing weapons; and whether the department engages in wiretapping and other surveillance allowed under the Patriot Act. The order also states that public statements will not be made by city officials that could "[have] a chilling effect" on legal demonstrations against the DNC.

The Shell station was seized from its owner by eminent domain eight years ago. The City promised to build a park on the site but have since left it abandoned and unusable because of possible gas seepage.

Former city council candidate Aimee Smith, who spoke at a May 24 council meeting in favor of Simmons’ order, was herself arrested eleven days later. She part of a group of women at the MIT commencement passing out leaflets about B.U.’s proposed bioterror lab.