Staged protest at biolab site not much of a hit with police
Boston Globe
June 22, 2008
MARC LAROCQUE
Staged protest at biolab site not much of a hit with police
“Playing dead is no laughing matter,” according to the Boston Police Department, which used the phrase as a headline for an arrest report on its website, bpdnews.com. But according to the two young women arrested in the June 5 incident cited in the report, Boston University’s nascent Level-4 biolab is the real danger.
Maryann Colella, 21, and Leeanne McHugh, 22, were placed in a police vehicle at 609 Albany St., the site of the proposed biolab, after officers charged them with disturbing the peace and damage to property via graffiti. Police said they responded to a complaint about a small group of females throwing dummy bodies into the street.
According to the report, one young woman at the scene, wearing white and red makeup on her face to simulate blood, lay on the sidewalk while a second female outlined her body in chalk. Meanwhile, police said, passing pedestrians and motorists slowed to rubberneck.
Colella and McHugh are members of the Radical Arts Troupe, a four-month-old group that they say tries to draw attention to social issues. Colella said the biolab would pose a danger by conducting experiments on deadly pathogens like anthrax and plague in a densely urban area.
Both said they were preparing for a performance – a static tableau involving tie-back suits and gasmasks. Their two compatriots fled before the police showed up.
“I really wanted to stay because symbolically it’s really important that we not be intimidated if we aren’t doing anything illegal,” said Colella, who denies dummy bodies were involved and says nothing was placed in the street. McHugh said she didn’t mark the walkway.
When the demonstrators failed to present a permit “allowing them to occupy the sidewalk” and refused to show their identification, police pulled the curtain down on the show – and confiscated the chalk.