Pipeline Protesters Cut Free, Arrested After Locking Themselves To Cars
WEST ROXBURY (CBS) -- Two activists from a group wishing to stop the construction of a gas pipeline through Boston had to be cut free after locking themselves to cars in protest Monday morning.
A man and a woman locked themselves to the cars, which were blocking the entrance to the work site for the pipeline, using bicycle U-locks.
The two are members of the group Resist The Pipeline, which is against the construction of Spectra Energy's West Roxbury Lateral pipeline.
Police, along with the Boston Fire Department technical team, cut both locks and took the two into custody.
Protester Mike Kenton screamed for firefighters to stop as they used what looked like a welder's torch to remove the bike lock from his neck.
.@BostonFire technical team tries to cut @StopSpectra protestor from car he locked himself to w/bike U-lock. #wbz pic.twitter.com/DYKmwznqsN
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) August 29, 2016
Fellow protester Laura Holmes was taken from the scene on a stretcher and arrested. She told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe that it was well worth it to get her message across.
"We're here to stand in solidarity with everyone who's protecting the earth," Holmes said. "There's only one pipeline, man. We just gotta shut them all down. Keep it in the ground!"
.@StopSpectra protestor taken away on stretcher after locking herself to car at #WestRoxbury pipeline site. #wbz pic.twitter.com/bCPsMkXMMT
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) August 29, 2016
Kenton was arrested and taken away in a police van.
.@StopSpectra protestor arrested after locking himself, by neck, to car blocking pipeline construction WRoxbury.#wbz pic.twitter.com/IIjzFyMx8O
— Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) August 29, 2016
It was the latest in a long string of protests at the site. Two weeks ago, nearly a dozen protesters broke into the pipeline work site in an attempt to disrupt construction, with some chaining themselves to the entrance gate.
In June, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore was one of 23 protesters charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace after sitting in a trench to block construction.
Marla Marco from Resist The Pipeline claims a large pipe with a high amount of gas pressure running through a residential neighborhood is unsafe and disruptive.
"We don't need this gas," she said. "National Grid is going to dump it into their system that's already got more than 3,000 leaks, and so we're going to pressurize that system and push more gas out of those existing leaks."
Spectra says the pipeline meets all federal safety regulations.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports