BOSTON – Protesters on either side of the debate about abortion clashed on Boston Common, leading to nine arrests.
Opposing parties clash over abortion rights
The clash began after a men’s march of anti-abortion advocates gathered at Planned Parenthood on Commonwealth Avenue on Saturday morning. The march then continued to the bandstand on Boston Common calling for the abolition of abortions.
“It was peaceful on our side,” said Jim Havens, co-founder of the Men’s March. “But there were many people, I would say hundreds, maybe even thousands, who came out to try to stop us from continuing with our march.”
The Men’s March is a group of protesters against legal access to abortion. Most members of the group are Catholic.
“We believe that there is a man behind every abortion, and we call on men to love women and children and not harm them,” he said.
Once they arrived at Boston Common, they were met by counter-protesters advocating for women and their right to choose. Some protesters dressed as clowns and played circus music and blew horns and cowbells.
“They have a right to be here and we have a right to speak out against them, and the police are just here to keep the peace, and I hope that’s all they do,” said one protester .
Boston police intervene
Boston police separated the two groups with barricades, but as tensions rose and people began hurling insults, police had to intervene.
“People are angry. People are afraid. People are afraid their rights will be taken away,” said a second protester.
Police said the arrests were made for disorderly conduct.
Today, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addressed the event, telling WBZ: “We’re clearly in some pretty divisive times right now, and the city has always been a space where freedom of speech brings people from all kinds of different points of view to share their opinions to express.”
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts has asked Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden to file criminal charges against those arrested. They say the right to freedom of expression of those who took part in The Men’s March was hampered.
“A lot of these people were elderly,” said CJ Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League. “Many of these people were devout Catholics who said the rosary.”
In a statement released Saturday evening, he continued: “It is a shame, a scandal and an outrage that Catholic men in America’s most historically Catholic city cannot march through the streets of Boston and recite the rosary without being harassed, harassed fallen, insulted, abused, hindered, hindered and shouted at.”
Samantha Chaney
