BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Several groups are planning to demonstrate in downtown Boston on Wednesday, and businesses in the city are boarding up and closing early in anticipation.
Around Boston Common and Downtown Crossing, many businesses have reinforced their windows with plywood in case demonstrations get out of hand or lead to looting.
Ken Gloss, the owner of Brattle Book Shop, said the store is using old fashioned metal grates to secure the storefront, which are typically used in the event of hurricanes.
“It actually almost angers me when I walk home, I live in Copley square," Gloss said. "And just seeing, everybody has to board up for an election in the United States, it just isn’t right.”
Gloss said he doesn't believe many people will choose a bookstore as a location to loot something from.
"Actually maybe society would be a whole lot better off if they did go in to loot books, but I don’t want to encourage anybody," He said. "I anticipate people will demonstrate — a lot of them very justfully [sic] demonstrate, well see what happens.”
Andy Papertsian, the owner of Bay State Coin Co., said that he doesn't expect any looting on Wednesday night because the state's national guard will be on standby, but he has put up metal grates anyway.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker activated 1,000 members of the state's National Guard on Monday in preparation for the aftermath of the election.
"I'm seventy-two years old, I never saw this in any election," Papertsian said.
The city of Boston also ramped up police presence on Tuesday, both at polling locations and in public areas across the city.
One of the demonstrations planned for the city tonight includes a "Count Every Vote" rally by Boston's American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) chapter set for 3:30 p.m. in Boston Common.
According to a press release, more than 3,000 people are expected to join the ACLU, along with Boston's NAACP, the Indivisible Mass Coalition and other groups to ensure "every vote is counted in the 2020 election."
All of the organizers of the event are calling for participants to remain peaceful, as the group said the event is one of hundreds planned nationwide by Protect the Results, a coalition dedicated to demanding that the results of the 2020 election be honored.
Another rally is set for 6 p.m. in Roxbury's Nubian Square, organized by Boston Socialist Alternative, Freedom Fighters Coalition and Sunrise Movement Boston. Organizers said the planned march is to also ensure officials count every vote, and to "demand an end to undemocratic attacks on our elections, in a grassroots effort to fight Trump."
Outside of the city of Boston, similar protests are set to take place in Worcester at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with one titled "Don't Let Trump Steal the Election." It is being organized by Worcester for a Peoples Party and the Worcester Socialist Alternative.
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@_MadisonRogers) reports.
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(Photo: Madison Rogers/WBZ News Radio)