*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, December 10, 2011*

Contacts: OccupyBostonMedia@gmail.com

Twitter: @OccupyBOS_media

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OCCUPY BOSTON RAIDED

On December 10, 2011 at 5 am #OccupyBoston’s Dewey Square encampment was raided by the Boston Police Department and other officials. Thirty-five peaceful protesters were arrested on the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway just two days after Mayor Thomas Menino issued a notice of eviction. Eight others were arrested in the streets and sidewalks surrounding Dewey Square and three were detained in South Station. Throughout the two-hour period during which the arrests occurred, #OccupyBoston members remained resolute and nonviolent in the face of a disproportionately large police presence. At least 100 officers were counted inside Dewey Square at 5:30 am, while some estimates place the count at greater than 200.

Credentialed press, citizen journalists, academic researchers, and #OccupyBoston media members were repeatedly corralled and moved to surrounding areas 50 feet away or more, prohibiting many from thoroughly covering the raid. From pointing lights in photographers’ lenses to targeting the two official #OccupyBoston USTREAM live videographers for removal, officials went to great lengths to block media access.

You cannot evict an idea whose time has come. Boston’s Occupiers will persist in rejecting a world created by and for the 1%. We might have been evicted, but we shall not be moved. We remain invested in the future of our movement. We will continue to challenge Wall Street’s occupation of our government.

We encourage everyone to join in the national conversation that has sustained #OccupyBoston for the past seventy-one days. #OccupyBoston will hold a General Assembly tonight at 7 pm at the bandstand on the Boston Common. We are the 99%, and we are no longer silent.

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#OccupyBoston is the beginning of an ongoing conversation about fixing our world: reforming Wall Street, removing special interests from government, preserving our civil liberties, and much more. #OccupyBoston is just one of more than 1000 separate Occupy movements in cities across the world and a symbol for “Occupiers” everywhere who support real and lasting change.

Website: www.OccupyBoston.org