Clergy Arrested at West Roxbury Pipeline Protest

arrests-gibbons
Rev. John Gibbons of the First Parish in Bedford – and chaplain for the town’s Minutemen – under arrest. Courtesy image (c) www.universalhub.com, 2016 all rights reserved

By Adam Gaffin, Universal Hub

arrests-atthepipe
At the pipeline – Courtesy image (c) www.universalhub.com, 2016 all rights reserved

Some 16 clergy members from across the Boston area were arrested this morning on Grove Street in West Roxbury, where they briefly blocked construction work on a high-pressure natural-gas pipeline to protest what they said was an unneeded pipe that could blow up the neighborhood.

Among those arrested in the latest protest against Spectra Energy’s gas pipeline and transfer station at Grove and Centre streets were the Rev. John Gibbons of First Parish, Unitarian Universalist in Bedford; Rev. Anne Bancroft of West Roxbury’s Theodore Parker Church; and the Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ.

Rev. Jim Antal, president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ - Courtesy image (c) www.UniversalHub.com, 2016 all rights reserved
Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ – Courtesy image (c) www.universalhub.com, 2016 all rights reserved

The morning protests began with prayers and songs outside the gates of the “metering and transfer” station, where the gas will be pumped into National Grid’s lower-pressure network. Spectra, building the pipeline for Algonquin Gas Transmission, and National Grid say the pipe will help make National Grid’s system more reliable; protesters say National Grid could do that without the pipeline by fixing all the leaks in its existing pipes.

Get The Bedford Citizen in your inbox!



Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman of Temple Sinai in Brookline and Roy Einhorn, cantor at Temple Israel in the Fenway, unscrolled a torah, from which Friedman read a passage.
Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman of Temple Sinai in Brookline and Roy Einhorn, cantor at Temple Israel in the Fenway, unscrolled a torah, from which Friedman read a passage. Courtesy image (c) www.universalhub.com, 2016 all rights reserved

The clergy and supporters – about 75 people in all – then walked down Grove Street to the site where the pipe now ends, about a quarter mile away from the transfer station, in a procession led by Friedman and her ukulele.

Spectra workers radioed ahead to their counterparts, who stopped work as the crowd gatherered. The 16 clergy members then filed into the construction zone and sat down on the lip of the trench in which the pipe is being built (Einhorn stood with his torah scrolls; Gibbons and another minister stood as well).

The clergy led prayers for the pipeline workers, the police and the neighborhood. After a few minutes, a Boston Police sergeant told them they were trespassing and that they had five minutes to leave or they’d be arrested.

None left. Gibbons compared the situation to the fight against the British during the Revolution. “No gassification without representation!” he yelled.

Then, one by one, police arrested the protesters and gently loaded them into two prisoner wagons for the trip up to E-5 for booking.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared at www.universalhub.com, and is reposted with permission

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

All Stories

What’s Bedford Thinking about the Red Sox?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Junior Landscaping
Go toTop