ICE Supporters Try and Suppress Bearing Witness Demonstrations
The Bearing Witness weekly protests at ICE headquarters at 1000 district ave have become a regional focal point for anti-ice protests. The peaceful standouts are in fact a witness, and every week speakers recount the horrors that ICE has inflicted on local residents. The organizing team of founders Jared and Laurie Berezin, Reverend Andrew Harris, Rabbi Susan Abramson and others invites speakers and re-iterates their commitment to peaceful and non-violent behavior by the 700 to 900 participants each week.
Yet as we have seen in Minneapolis, non-violent resistance generates ferocious opposition, precisely because peacefully exercising our basic rights through assembly and speech is intolerable to those whose power depends on suppressing us.
Such is the case with Robert Murray, owner of the building where ICE pays him xxx per year,. He is one of the largest commercial landlords in Burlington and Woburn, a supporter of ICE who has defied the Town of Burlington’s requests for cooperation. Because of his long history in Burlington, he is likely connected to the officers within the Burlington Police who are Trump supporters and who incited the Mall to institute their own parking ban.
It is quite likely that this concerted effort to suppress the Bearing Witness demonstrations has been stirred up by ICE supporters in Burlington. The Mall now claims it is a corporate decision, as does the developer of the District in Burlington. We think it likely, but not proven, that a network of Trump’s business ICE supporters are involved. They obeying in advance. Far better to appease Trump than to stand up for the American constitution.
Initially the Mall denied access to an empty overflow parking lot never used at 11 am on a weekday. Protestors parked away from stores and walked over to the protest. Action against Bearing Witness by the Mall was urged on by one of the Burlington Police Captains who is supportive of ICE. When people complained to store owners and Simon management about their parking ban, they got a ruling from corporate, and when our lawyer met with Mall management, they said their hands were tied and they would never allow parking any longer at their site. The next week they brought in security, who tried to identify people going to the protest instead of the mall.
Their principal way of doing so was either people carrying signs, or people walking toward the mall from the District Ave properties. Now, instead of parking away from the stores, people who wish to use the Mall parking lot should park as close to them as possible, enter the mall, and then go about their business. When returning they should enter the mall and exit the mall again to find their car. It makes it almost impossible to distinguish between shoppers whom he mall wants to park in the lot, and people who are also shoppers but whom the mall does not want to park in their lot. We are protestors, but we are shoppers also.
This week there was a new escalation by National Developent, owner of the district ave property. Many of their buildings are empty and their parking lots have lots of extra space. Yet they posted a sign threatening to tow anyone who protests ICE. Ironically they are using Murray towing, although we can’t find a direct connection to Robert Murray who is getting $2 million a year in rent from ICE . They are serious, as they towed the car of a woman Wednesday who was simply looking around surveying the situation.
All of this suppression – by the Simon properties, by National Development, a $6 Billion Massachusetts real estate company, and by the Burlington police who have been increasingly aggressive in trying to create “protest zones” are examples of people who are bending the knee to Trump. Like many business who have proven willing to sacrifice 250 years of American history and quake in fear of even a whisper of notice by the dictatorial regime, they bend the knee and try and curry Trump’s favor by protecting ICE.
Our job is to push back. There are many creative ways to do so. We will find these ways, but above all we will not let a few fearful stores and real estate companies stand in our way of peacefully protesting ICE. We want these weekly demonstrations to grow and grow. ICE is now an unbeatable stain on our country. We must contain it, constrain it, and remove it, no matter who stands in the way.
We have a sample letter to Charlie Rollins, National Development’s CEO. We believe that the parking ban may have been conceived locally by Murray allies and the local managers of National Development. We don’t think a $6 billion Massachusetts corporation wants to get crosswise with Massachusetts citizens, the Governor, the non-profits it supports and its tenants by taking affirmative action to protect ICE. We think if they refuse to reconsider, they may be vulnerable to a press campaign revealing their ties.
Read and download the letter here. download the letter here.
