Police may have instigated some of the violence that followed a Black Lives Matter protest in Boston on May 31, according to body camera footage that emerged this weekend.
But the videos also show cases where some protesters clearly tried to incite the police, highlighting the complexity of the event.
In the wake of the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, thousands of demonstrators representing a vast demographic swatch of ages, races and ethnicities descended on downtown Boston to protest police violence against other Black people across the country. Around 9 p.m., a large gathering on the Boston Common broke up and protestors began making their way home.
Evan McDonald, a recent Emerson College graduates, said he and his girlfriend were heading home when police incited violence.
“As we were returning towards Tremont Street, the police basically flanked us all, armed with riot gear," McDonald told GBH News. "And next thing I know, they were firing gas canisters at us."
The videos show police escalating conflicts with protesters at various points that night. In one scene caught on tape, a group of Black men approach a line of officers and yell at them to "take a knee," the symbolic act of confronting injustice popularized by quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The police weren’t having it, and the next thing seen on the videos is tear gas canisters being thrown in the direction of the 100 or so lingering protestors on Tremont Street.
But the videos also show moments where protesters hurled dozens of water bottles, unopened soda cans and trash bins in the direction of police officers.
In response to the body camera revelations, Police Commissioner William Gross placed a sergeant who bragged about hitting three protestors with his car on administrative leave. In a statement, Gross said his office is also looking into other abuses shown on the tapes.
The body camera footage has also been turned over to Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins’ office, which said it is focusing on “troubling scenes that merit further examination.”
