OK, so you are a business trying to stave off union thugs and, instead of acting like civilized adults, the thugs put an unauthorized padlock on your driveway gate and then park a trailer in front of the entrance so that your trucks cannot enter or leave the premisses. Then, when the police come to try and restore order, the unions thugs start a street brawl. Of this incident, the police claim “there is no riot.”

So, what’s a business to do?

Somerville – At approximately 1 a.m. his morning, members of Teamsters Local 25 established a picket line at F.W. Russell Disposal Company located at 120 McGrath Highway and Broadway Brake at Broadway and Lombardi Way.

Russell Disposal is the contractor providing trash removal services for the city of Somerville.

Protestors bused into the scene padlocked the front gate and parked a trailer in front of it so Russell’s employees could not enter and the trucks could not leave.

At approximately 8:15 a.m. Thursday morning, acting Chief Robert Bradley gave the order for police to push back the picketers who had been bused into the site. Somerville Police were backed up by Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (a regional force from other cities) which includes a SWAT Team. Officials from Peabody, Concord, Pepperell, North Andover, Watertown, Bedford, Chelmsford, Lexington and Woburn staged in the Target parking lot and marched to the site in full riot gear.

As police pushed picketers back, a scuffle broke out. Ten picketers were arrested.

“There is no riot. There never was a riot. We do not have a riot. We have a labor dispute,” Somerville Police Capt. Upton said this morning.

What a mess. 10 were arrested… but everyone claims it isn’t a riot. The unions get a pass from the police, for sure. I’ll tell you one thing, if you or I had illegally blocked someone’s place of business and our friends started a street brawl, the police would surely not act so delicately.

And no one is mentioning the violent coercion attempted by the union thugs, either!