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Charges dismissed for Army Day protesters
On June 14, 2006, the Cambridge Seven were scheduled to face charges stemming from a protest on Cambridge Common exactly one year earlier.
But now defendant Patrick Keaney says, “We decided to take a deal that was offered by the D.A. We agreed to 90 days pre-trial probation and they're dismissing the charges.”
The seven antiwar protesters were arrested at a “birthday party” for the U.S. Army held in Cambridge Common last June 14. D.A. Coakley charged Keaney, Caroline Arpe, Kelli Dorsey, and Matthew Osborn with disturbing the peace. Jaime Bissonnette, Joseph Gerson, and Skip Schiel were charged with failure to disperse.
June 14 was the date George Washington took command of the Continental Army in 1775. But to some residents the date was shameless exploitated for the purpose of gaining new recruits to fight in Iraq.
“The whole purpose of the event was to recruit, not to celebrate history,” said Bill Sweet, who works with the Friends Service Committee. “They were approaching children who weren’t even old enough to be recruited.”
On the day of the arrests, most of Cambridge Common had been barricaded. A “free speech zone” was designated on the Garden Street side of the Common. A “police gate” was also put in place. People were stopped and searched before they were allowed to enter the Common.
Despite these measures to reduce the number and visibility of activists on the Common, there were more than a hundred peaceful protesters inside the barricades before the arrests took place. Many of the people who entered the Common ended up near the stage from which speeches and presentations were made throughout the day. It was here that the arrests occurred.
Witnesses said that around fifty protesters were holding signs and chanting next to the stage when they were told to move to another area of the Common. Some sat down in refusal and were then arrested. Though the remaining protesters were apparently cooperating with police, officers ran at the crowd and began to shove people.
Gerald Bergman said that plainclothes police officers forcibly removed him from the Common without identifying themselves first. Bergman was standing silently and holding a sign the size of a sheet of notebook paper. “They grabbed me pretty good,” he said. “It’s my Cambridge Common, so I should be able to be in it.”
Bill Sweet recalled: “All of a sudden, with no warning they rushed us and started to shove whoever was in their way, including several older women.”
Joseph Gerson wrote following his arrest that his was an act of civil disobedience. “Then the first of several soldiers and police came and ordered us to move,” Gerson said. “I responded that I am a resident of Cambridge. The Common is public space. I was peacefully protesting a criminal war.”
A website of the Boston Direct Action Project (BDAP), says that four of its members were among those arrested. Boston Independent Media Center reported that the BDAP members were dressed in costumes intended to represent victims of the Iraq war. Artificial blood covered their costumes, which were of an American soldier, an Iraqi man and an Iraqi woman. Signs around their necks read, “Killed in Iraq, No More Birthdays for Me,” “Killed by U.S. Troops, No More Birthdays for Me,” and “Liberated.”
As she was handcuffed and carried away from the Common by Cambridge Police, BDAP member Caroline Arpe yelled, “U.S. out of Iraq! Stop killing our children!”
Bob Stevens, the Director of Veterans Services for the City of Cambridge, said before the event that he had hoped the day would stay focused on commemorating history, and not on the current war in Iraq. Yet several of the day’s planned events were geared to promote today’s military forces and to encourage enlistment.
A Blackhawk military helicopter landed on the Common, and military parachutists made a drop into the public space, while a promotional Army Hummer waited below with a sign on its rear door: “Your Future Just Passed You By.” A sleek, seventy-five foot Army recruitment truck also provided a place where people could view a promotional video for enlistment in the armed forces.
Among those appearing at the event was US Army Undersecretary Raymond DuBoise, and an eleven-year-old boy whose father was killed in Iraq. Cambridge City Manager Robert W. Healy made a presentation highlighting his agreement with the Army to join its “Partnership for Youth Success.”
Because the event involved overt recruiting activities, controversy erupted after the event. City officials, parents of children who attended the event on school field trips, and teachers voiced opposition.
Vice Mayor Marjorie Decker said the celebration in Cambridge Common was one of many similar events planned by the United States Army intended to bolster falling enlistment numbers. “The Army Recruitment Office scripted this show across the country,” Decker said. “Cambridge was just another city that responded to the invitation.” Pat O’Brien, a member of the Cambridge Peace Commission, was quoted in the Cambridge Chronicle as saying that local residents and organizations were sidestepped in the planning stages. “I want to protest the Army’s presence on the Cambridge Common for recruiting,” O’Brien said. “I think that much of the outrage could have been avoided… We have a Peace Commission in the city. We could have been consulted.”
The maximum penalty for disturbing the peace is six months and a $200 fine. The maximum penalty for failure to disperse is one year and a $500 fine.