State Police arrest several trespassers who were part of a morning protest in Massachusetts that blocked a roadway

Massachusetts State Police arrested trespassers who were part of a morning protest in Massachusetts.

According to Dave Procopio of Massachusetts State Police, Troopers arrested five in the middle of the roadway on the Leverett Circle Connector in Boston for trespassing on state property and other charges.

Troopers also seized two vehicles that the trespassers had parked in two separate travel lanes to block traffic at the busy intersection. One of those vehicles, a 2017 Ford F250 pickup truck, was carrying three 55-gallon steel drum barrels with holes cut into them and pipes running through the holes, a device known as a “sleeping dragon.” The truck also contained a fourth “sleeping dragon” pipe device not fed through the barrels. Procopio stated that a “sleeping dragon” is an improvised device made by protestors to secure themselves together, with their arms fed through a pipe or tube that runs through barrels through holes cut into them. Generally, a protesters hands are then locked to the hands of those next to them inside the barrels, to form a roadblock consisting of a connected series of protestors and barrels.

The four “sleeping dragons” seized from the trespassers this morning were made of steel pipes. Three of the devices were fed through holes cut into the three steel drum barrels. The seizure of the “sleeping dragons” by Troopers prevented the protestors from chaining themselves together in the devices to block traffic at the busy intersection, which is used by motorists connecting to and from the Tobin Bridge, Route 93, Storrow Drive, Nashua Street, and Charles River Dam Road.

Within minutes after Troopers cleared the trespassers and prevented them from blocking the road, at least two ambulances drove through the area that would have otherwise been gridlocked.

Troopers from the State Police Special Emergency Response Team made the arrests at approximately 6:45 a.m. The five are identified as:

JOSEPH H. ROGERS, 55, of Lyndeborough, N.H., charged with trespassing on state property, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit a crime;
GRANT F. ROCKETT, 64, of Jamaica Plain, charged with trespassing on state property, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit a crime;
MARK A. DUGAN, 54, of Newton, charged with trespassing on state property, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit a crime;
JENNIFER M. SMITH, 48, of Watertown, charged with trespassing on state property, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit a crime; and
MARY E. HANSEN, 67, of Jamaica Plain, charged with trespassing on state property, disorderly conduct, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
ROGERS, ROCKETT, and DUGAN were scheduled to be arraigned at the Boston Municipal Court. SMITH and HANSEN were expected to be arraigned at the Charlestown District Court.