Biodevastation 2000

City tightens security procedures as biotech conference nears

Raphael Lewis / Boston Globe  24mar00

With the possibility of ''Seattle-style'' unrest erupting during a protest of a biotechnology conference this weekend, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and police officials yesterday said the city is prepared for the worst, but not expecting it.

''My fondest hope is that, five, six days from now, we'll be saying, `This is all much ado about nothing,''' Police Commissioner Paul F. Evans said of preparations for BIO2000. The conference will start on Sunday and run through Thursday at the Hynes Convention Center.

''But we would be remiss if we did not prepare for other eventualities,'' Evans added.

For more than a month, police have been undergoing special training in dealing with large-scale civil disobedience, officials said.

Organizers of a rally and counter-conference, called Biodevastation 2000, have assured police that they are nonviolent - a point they reiterated yesterday.

Despite that, Menino and Evans said they have received information that others make no such claims. Insurgents attended the often-violent street protests that took place when the World Trade Organization met in Seattle last year, a situation that surprised police.

''Civil disobedience is becoming more creative, more innovative,'' Evans said during a press conference yesterday. ''We're concerned about small groups of people engaging in more creative forms of disobedience ... When it endangers lives and public safety, then we have to be concerned.''

In recent weeks, city officials have warned Back Bay shopkeepers to take ''common sense'' precautions. They have also requested that local newspapers remove vending boxes, which vandals in Seattle used to smash shop windows. In addition, barricades will be in place for most of the weekend at certain key areas along Boylston Street.

The rally's organizers stressed that they know of no plans by any opponents of the biotechnology industry to cause trouble.

''We are concerned about a police overreaction because the police definitely overreacted in Seattle, and that led to big problems,'' said Jessica Hayes, one of the organizers.

Hayes, who attended the city's press conference in the afternoon, said that the police ''have an underlying assumption to protect the biotech industry, when our rights of peaceful gathering and protest might be jeopardized.''

Still, organizers have kept in close contact with police to ensure that no violence mars their chance to publicize their agenda. They say that the government has not done nearly enough to regulate the fast-growing industry, which they say is jeopardizing the environment and the public's health.

''We see the [biotechnology] industry's research as the premier public health and safety issue of the weekend, not our peaceful gathering,'' said Brian Tokar, another organizer of the rally.

Tokar said he expected hundreds, and possibly 1,000 protestors from across the country and Canada to attend the rally. In addition, several scientists, activists, and celebrities such as consumer advocate Ralph Nader will speak at various forums that will take place at Northeastern University.

Approximately 8,000 delegates and vendors are expected to attend some portion of BIO2000, which is being billed as the largest gathering of its kind to date.

The conference was last held, ironically, in Seattle. Carl Feldbaum, president of the Washington-based Biotechnology Industry Organization, said demonstrators protested that conference, held last May, without incident.

''It was a polite demonstration in which views were traded,'' said Feldbaum, whose organization is sponsoring BIO2000. ''I expect more people this year, but I fully expect the rally to be a peaceful one of people exercising their rights to speech and assembly.''

The rally and march will begin at Copley Square at noon on Sunday, police said. From there, marchers will proceed down Boylston Street to the convention center, where protesters are permitted to demonstrate until 4 p.m.