SWAMPSCOTT — Protesters congregating around Gov. Charlie Baker’s Monument Avenue driveway Thursday morning triggered a strong police response with state, Lynn, and Swampscott officers converging on the scene and arresting four people.
About 30 demonstrators, identifying themselves as “Jews against Fascism,” shouted through bullhorns and chanted as police officers and state troopers stood at the end of the governor’s driveway.
“We ended up arresting four who refused to comply with orders not to cross the private property boundary and not to block the driveway. Three men and a woman. They are being booked at the Revere Barracks for disorderly conduct and trespassing,” said State Police spokesman David Procopio.
Thursday’s 7:30 a.m. protest centered on what one demonstrator described as Baker’s opposition to legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Police monitored the protest even as additional demonstrations focused on different grievances took shape on Humphrey Street and at the base of Eastern Avenue in Lynn Thursday.
In an emailed statement, the protesters said they sought to point to “concrete steps that Gov. Baker can take for the immediate protection of immigrants in Massachusetts, focusing on the decades-long effort by immigrant communities to win access to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, which would cut off a method commonly used by federal agents to detain otherwise law-abiding immigrants.”
“To be clear, we were standing in front of the governor’s residence for only 20 minutes,” said Rae Axner, one of the protesters. “We were asking for Baker to come out and talk to us about protecting immigrants. We didn’t expect to be arrested just for trying to talk to the governor, but Massachusetts immigrants also can’t expect whether they will be arrested or detained on any given day, just for driving to work or to school.”
Procopio identified the individuals arrested as Scott Sternberg, 61, of Salem; Lily Gomberg, 22, of Auburndale; Joel Greenberg, 30, of Cambridge; and Sean Donaghy, 28, of Somerville.
Baker’s home has been a protest focal point with Black Lives Matter demonstrators, supporters of President Donald Trump, pro-police Blue Lives Matter supporters and advocates calling for reforms allowing needle distribution to intravenous drug addicts, converging on Monument Avenue or nearby Humphrey Street during the summer and fall.
