Last night, hundreds of protestors gathered in Roxbury’s Nubian Square to protest President Donald Trump’s request to stop counting ballots in some swing states, including Pennsylvania and Nevada, as the outcome of the presidential election hangs in the balance. The protestors marched through the evening, ending in front of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. Phillip Martin, GBH News Senior Investigative Reporter, was there and joined Joe Mathieu today on Morning Edition to share what he saw.
“The mood was worried and concerned, like across the entire country right now, Joe,” said Martin. “There’s a fear that if the votes are stopped — if in Pennsylvania, for example, they stop counting votes, or any other place in this country where they stop counting votes — that it will basically accede to an undemocratic process. And so there is a lot of anger and there is a lot of worry that, in their words, that Donald Trump might hijack the election.”
While outcry over the President’s request to stop counting ballots remained at the fore, Phillip noted that there were many other reasons why protestors took to the streets last night.
“These are progressives, and socialists, leftists, liberals all mixed in this crowd," Martin said. "Their first choice [for President] was not Biden, their first choice was Bernie Sanders. And so what they’ve said is, ‘Okay, we support Biden, but we will continue to campaign on a grassroots level to make sure that he keeps his promises on climate change, on Black Lives Matter, on looking at police violence and reform.'”
Security at demonstrations around the city has been an ongoing concern for residents and city officials alike. Martin noted that around 100 of the 500 protestors present were wearing neon vests, seemingly designated as marshals, in order to keep the gathering peaceful and make sure that the infiltration of extremist groups inciting violence — as has occurred at other protests around the country — was shut down.
“From the speakers, you heard people warn: ‘If you’re here,’ said one guy. ‘If you’re here to cause violence, if you’re here to set things on fire, to break windows, we want you to leave right now," Martin said. "Because there is a growing realization that some of these individuals who have taken part in these demonstrations may not be who they say they are.”
