On Saturday August 19th in Boston, Massachusetts, one week after the KKK, Neo-nazi’s and the “alt-right” marched into Charlottesville, Virginia; 40,000 protestors took to the streets of Boston to stand up against white supremacy. That same day, an unknown number of Boston and State Police descended upon those protestors. The corporate and local media, the Mayor, and Police Commissioner Evans claimed the day was a success. The 50 or so “free speech rally” attendees got out safely and those that were arrested were, to quote Donald Trump, just "police agitators". The truth is most of the 33 people arrested ended up getting caught up in the dragnet of the police state.

In this episode of Under Reported, Co-Produced by DigBoston and the Boston Institute for Non-Profit Journalism (BINJ) I speak with Carl Williams, Staff Attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts; and Kimberly Carlisle and Jay Kelly, two of the 33 people arrested on August 19th.

“They (the Police) can yell whatever arbitrary thing they want at you and if you don’t agree with them, they’ll hit you with a stick.”

— Jay Kelly

“I was yelling at them, ‘I have disabilities’ - they weren’t hearing it.”

— Kimberly Carlisle

Kimberly, circled in red - this photo is to scale and shows her seconds before her arrest.

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Episode 03: Caught in the Police State