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Boston Police Officers March on City Hall

Posted on: Friday, 11 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

BOSTON - Picketing police officers marched to City Hall from the site of the Democratic National Convention on Friday after federal marshals began monitoring whether they were impeding efforts to convert the sports arena into a staging ground for John Kerry's nomination.

Several hundred officers - chanting "contracts now!" and "Tommy" - paraded toward City Hall. Some sat at a table in the city plaza, sending a message that they wanted to continue contract talks with Mayor Thomas M. Menino. Boston police have been working without a contract for about two years.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro had warned pickets led by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to stop blocking people or vehicles from entering the job site at the FleetCenter. Five U.S. marshals sent by Tauro to observe whether pickets followed his orders patrolled the site Friday.

Work at the FleetCenter was supposed to start Tuesday, but the police union and its allies surrounded workers and trucks that have tried to enter the site, shouting at them to "go home" and physically standing in their way. Most turned away. The union denied that its actions constituted unlawful intimidation, and Tauro said he would not tolerate it.

The picket line had dwindled in numbers and receded to the edges of the entrances. Police association president Thomas J. Nee said no immediate picketing was planned for outside the convention center.

"I don't need no stinkin' marshals in my town," Nee said. "We have been denied our constitutional rights by a federal judge."

Menino has been under increasing pressure to reach an agreement with the police union.

The $14 million project will prepare the arena for the convention July 26-29. A tour for news media scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed until June 29.

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