Boston Clergy Ask City to Remain Nonviolent

Protest chaplains and clergy hand-delivered a letter Thursday morning to City Hall and Boston Police Headquarters. Signed by 161 faith leaders from Boston and surrounding communities, the letter expressed support for Occupy Boston’s efforts to draw attention to widening disparities of wealth. It urged the mayor, the City Council, and the police to refrain from violence in dealings with Occupy protestors.

The letter expressed dismay at the “dangerous, punitive, and unnecessary use of force against encampments nationwide.” It called for a public commitment from the City not to use “batons, tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, ‘flashbangs,’ ‘sound cannons,’ or any other bullets, projectiles, explosives, chemical agents, or other pain-based method of crowd control” in the event that the City acts to remove protestors from Dewey Square.

Praising the camp’s reception of “the least and lost among us,” the letter noted that safety and sanitation challenges at the camp reflect “our own failure to address the triple threat of addiction, mental illness, and homelessness wracking our city.” It urged officials to commit to creating “additional shelters to aid the homeless in Dewey Square, and increasing numbers made homeless by eviction and foreclosure,” prior to any eviction of protestors.

“The poverty, homelessness, and increasing desperation of our neighbors present a challenge to us all,” the letter concluded. “Violence against the protesters is no solution. As leaders of faith, we urge you to seek a course that furthers justice and wholeness for all people. In this, we stand as one.”