Boston Police Commissioner William Gross is standing by his officers.

Following questions and criticism of the way police dealt with protesters at the “Straight Pride Parade” held in Boston last weekend, Gross released a statement Monday voicing unqualified support for his department’s handling of the disruptive Aug. 31 event.

“While much has been made about the actions taken by my officers during the Straight Pride Parade, let me say without hesitation that I could not be more proud or impressed with the high levels of restraint and professionalism displayed by my officers tasked with safeguarding and protecting all who either attended, participated or protested at the parade,” Gross said.


His statement repeatedly referred to “my officers,” though police from other nearby departments were also present to assist with the event. According to The Boston Globe, the number of officers at the parade was in the “hundreds.”

The massive police presence and use of riot gear and pepper spray to break up the mostly peaceful — if also, at times, unruly — crowd in downtown Boston has since drawn criticism, perhaps most prominently from City Councilor Michelle Wu, who argued the tactics only exacerbated the ensuing conflict between officers and protesters. When the provocative right-wing parade ended, some counter-protesters turned their ire toward police, whom they berated for allowing the demonstration, the Globe reported at the time.

“As we saw along the parade route, there were many who chose to voice their objections to those who chose to participate in the Straight Pride Parade,” Gross said Monday. “While most expressed those objections peacefully, not everybody did. And nobody can attest to that fact more so than my officers.”

The commissioner said Boston police faced “an unending stream of verbal taunts, jeers, profanities, obscenities and physical assaults,” noting that a number of the 36 people arrested at the parade were accused of crimes that were violent in nature, including assaulting a police officer and weapons charges.


“Clearly, not everybody who attended the parade was there to peacefully and lawfully exercise their First Amendment Rights,” he said.

Most of the people arrested during the parade were charged with disorderly conduct and/or resisting arrest. On Monday, a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of a move by Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins to drop charges against protesters arrested solely on nonviolent charges, overruling a lower-court Boston judge.

Echoing comments from Mayor Marty Walsh last week, Gross said that “appropriate staffing and security measures” were put in place to ensure the safety of both parade participants and protesters. Walsh had cited the 2017 white nationalist rally and protest that turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a worst-case example of what could happen if the city didn’t have a big enough police presence.

Gross also said that the department would review “all actions taken by my officers, including the use of non-lethal force” to determine whether appropriate guidelines were followed. He encouraged anyone who thinks they were “mistreated” to file a formal complaint with the police department’s Internal Affairs Unit.

“The Boston Police Department has and will continue to protect the freedoms and rights of all people, regardless of political leanings or personal points of view, to lawfully and peacefully express their First Amendment Rights,” he said.