George Floyd protests in Massachusetts
[4] On June 12, local teens organized a march of more than 200 people that began at Amherst Regional High School and ended at Sweetser Park with a speak-out session for Black teenagers.[6][7] The following day, a second large group of protesters clashed with city police, injuring four officers and resulting in ten arrests.Though all three began peacefully, violence broke out by nightfall, with police driving squad cars through crowds and firing tear gas without dispersal instruction.[9] Some protesters threw plastic water bottles and set off fireworks, while police used pepper spray and beat people with wooden clubs.[10] Dozens of stores across the city were looted and vandalized from Downtown Crossing and Back Bay to Dorchester, twenty-one police cruisers were damaged, seven officers were hospitalized (with more being treated for injuries in the streets), and over forty arrests were made.[11][12][13] On June 2, communities organized a large protest in Franklin Park, which remained peaceful despite tense stand-offs with both police and the national guard.[37] On June 14, dozens of demonstrators gathered at Eagle Lake to protest the murder of George Floyd and others who had been slain by police.Mayor of Newton Ruthanne Fuller, School Committee Chairwoman Ruth Goldman, and City Council President Susan Albright were also in attendance.This protest targeted the Newton Police Department, and continued along Commonwealth Avenue to City Hall, some 3 miles down the road.[58] On June 2, nearly 4,500 people held a vigil at Quincy Center in honor of George Floyd before taking part in an hour-long march down Hancock Street.[62] On Friday, May 30, a small rally in front of the Greenbush rotary in Scituate grew daily to about 50 people on Sunday protesting the murder of George Floyd.[64] On May 31, approximately 75 demonstrators gathered along Route 202 in Southwick with signs to protest the murder of George Floyd and police brutality.[71] Hours later, a group of protesters in the Main South neighborhood met a police barricade, which led to the crowd being dispersed into two directions.A group that continued down main street were said to have set off fireworks and thrown rocks at officers, leading to tear gas and rubber bullets being fired into a crowd of about seventy people.