West Roxbury pipeline protesters up ante, lock necks to cars to block work

Two protesters halted some work at the natural-gas transfer station in West Roxbury for 90 minutes this morning as firefighters carefully sawed through the bicycle u-locks that kept them attached to two separate cars, one in front of the main gate to the construction site, the other on Grove Street.

Protesters have locked their arms to the pipeline or fences around the Spectra Energy metering and regulating station at Grove and Centre streets before; this marked the first time anybody had used the neck technique.

Protesters say the West Roxbury pipeline, which will feed high-pressure natural gas into National Grid's Boston pipe system, is a feint to get fracked Pennsylvania gas to the coast for shipment overseas. Local residents, who first began protests in 2014, worry the pipeline could explode, incinerating the neighborhood.

As officer checks how secure the lock was (very), protester Mike Kenton wrote a support letter to Native Americans protesting a North Dakota pipeline.

As a dozen or so supporters watched, Lor Holmes sat quietly, wearing protective glasses put on her by a firefighter, along with a protective sheath around her face, a helmet on her head, and a firefighter's turnout coat covering the rest of her, as a firefighter from Rescue 2 carefully cut through the lock. A second firefighter pumped water on the metal to keep it cool as sparks flew. Two fire extinguishers were propped nearby; a fire hose was also at the ready. Before they did any of this, though, firefighters asked her if she was really sure she wanted to go through all that.

After she was cut out, EMTs put her on a gurney to transport her to a waiting ambulance, where she was checked out, even as a firefighter was trying to jimmy open the lock around Kenton's neck.

Officials gave Kenton one last chance to get the key from a supporter. When he refused, firefighters repeated the same protective process they used on Holmes and a firefighter went to work.

Kenton immediately began screaming and demanding they stop, which they did. After checking to see nothing was coming into contact with him, they resumed. Kenton resumed screaming, at one point demanding to know if the firefighters knew what they were doing.

After about five minutes, Kenton signaled he'd had enough and was willing to unlock the lock. Unfortunately, the supporter who had the key had had to leave for work - and didn't give anybody else the key.

After about five more minutes, Kenton was out, but refused to stand. Several cops picked him up; two then gently put him in a waiting prisoner-transport wagon.

He was soon joined by Holmes - after officers retrieved her from a group of supporters, to which she'd wandered from the ambulance. The two were then taken down to E-5 for booking.

With the gate blocked, truckers hauling construction equipment had to wait on Centre Street:

When protesters first arrived at the main gate around 6:10 a.m., a security guard leaped out of his car and tried to wrestle the lock away from Kenton. Several supporters, however, quickly blocked him, and the guard spent the rest of the time just standing in front of the main gate.