ROFFLE AT HARDCORE KIDS HERE

City of Boston Launches Campaign to Destroy Boston's Local Hardcore Community

On July 14th, 2004, in what can only be described as Gestapo style tactics, the City of Boston in conjunction with the Lyons Group Corporation launched its first offensive in their all-out campaign to remove Boston’s hardcore and punk rock element from the city’s streets and night clubs.

Shortly after 11pm that Wednesday night, undercover Police Officers and a self identified Federal Agent walked through the front doors of the Paradise Night Club in Allston and entered a widely popular punk rock music night, known as 'Blackout Bar.' The officers, led by Lyons Group representatives, walked through the busy nightclub singling out those individuals they suspected of being friends of or affiliates of members of the Boston Beatdown Organization and Friends Standing United, a local brotherhood of hardcore and punk rock kids solidified during their battle to rid Boston of its neo-Nazi element in the early 1990’s.

Their department’s show of force escalated as undercover Police Sergeant **** and self identified Federal Agent **** began shoving, one by one, those hardcore kids they had singled out from the bar into a lit area on the sidewalk outside. Sgt. **** then ordered those individuals to lift their shirts, and despite objection and protest by the individuals on their own behalf, Sgt. **** proceeded to photograph them with a Polaroid camera.

When asked to see his police badge or obtain his badge number, Sgt. ****, who originally identified himself as a member of Boston’s Gang Taskforce, refused. Instead, he threatened to arrest each of the individuals if they opened their mouths again.

After being photographed, Sgt. **** issued verbal trespassing warnings to all the singled out hardcore kids for all Lyons Group property. He then added to the warning by stating that should those individuals be seen on the public streets or sidewalks in front of any Lyons Group establishment they would be arrested immediately.

Over the course of the next several weeks numerous other hardcore and punk rock kids have reported similar instances of harassment by local authorities and privately hired Boston Police Detectives stationed around Lyons Group venues.

On one such occasion, three individuals working for a local magazine company reported that they were publicly humiliated by Police Officers who threw them up against a wall and photographed them in front of hundreds of onlookers. The police officers, who identified themselves as members of a Police Gang Unit, then told the three individualsthat they were no longer allowed anywhere within Boston Police Department’s District 4 area, and that violation of that order would result in their arrest.

In a separate incident, several member’s of a notable hardcore band were refused admittance into a Lyons Group venue simply because they were covered in tattoos. The club quickly disguised their blatent discrimination, claiming that the individuals posed threats to the club.These individuals bore no affiliations to either Boston Beatdown or FSU or any of their respective members.

On July 31st, members of Sworn Enemy and Walls of Jericho, who were scheduled to perform at Lyons Group Club Axis in Boston, were told that they could not take the stage wearing Boston Beatdown t-shirts. They were ordered to remove it under penalty of being ejected from the club. Furthermore, they were told that any references made to Boston Beatdown, or local performing artists Blood For Blood and Death Before Dishonor would result in the show being terminated. During this time, a member of Walls of Jericho’s touring crew was told by a uniformed Police Officer that if he did not remove, or turn inside-out, his Boston Beatdown t-shirt he would be ejected from the club and arrested.

While the Lyons Group continues to deny their involvement in these incidents, citing the Attorney General as the force behind them, obvious facts suggest otherwise. If, in fact, the Lyons Group was not involved with the roundup at the Paradise, why then did it consists of a Police Detective working out of his area, a self identified federal agent who just so happens to be on the Lyons Group payroll, the Lyons Group General Manager of clubs Axis and Avalon, and the Lyons Group General Manager of Sonsei, a restaurant located in Boston’s Fenway area? If, in fact, as Lyons Group representatives claim, the Lyons Group had no part in the police presence at their venues, why then were trespassing warnings only handed out for their property? If, in fact, the Lyons Group has implemented no influence on the Police Department, why then did a Police Officer inside a Lyons Group establishment threaten a hardcore kid with arrest if he did not remove his Boston Beatdown t-shirt?

City of Boston Has No Love For Hardcore

Over the past two weeks, members of our organization and our supporters have been singled out by the City of Boston as a threat. We have been denied access to public property and streets and denied entry into bars and clubs throughout the city. Currently, we face immediate arrest if we do not abide by these sanctions imposed upon us.

The problem we face, however, is not limited to us. Members of bands, former co-workers, and all those "they" associate with our music and way of life have been victims of this discrimination.

For those of you who blame us for thes recent corporate Jihad, then I encourage you to look deeper into the issue. The simple fact is, they don't like us and they don't like you. They tolerate us only to the extent that they do not see or hear us. This is not the first time the city has tried to rid themselves of kids who feel rejected from mainstream society, nor will it be the last.

There is only so far that you can push us before we have nowhere left to go. There is only so much you can take from us before we have nothing left to lose.