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Menino: 'Occupy Boston' Can't Keep 'Rubbing It In Our Faces'

BOSTON (CBS) – Mayor Tom Menino's patience with Occupy Boston is starting to run thin.

Menino said the city has been very patient with the protestors and he says he agrees with them on many issues.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Jim Smith reports

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But, he is furious that some Occupy members tried to bring an industrial-sized kitchen sink into the Dewey Square site Thursday night.

Occupy Boston sink
Boston Police remove the sink Thursday night. (Image courtesy: Bob Plain)

Protesters then allegedly tried to prevent police from removing it.

One person, 26-year-old Gary Williams of Quincy, was arrested on charges of assault and battery on a public employee.

Police say he ripped a police radio from an officer's belt and was carrying a folding knife.

"I'm not going to allow them to put up a kitchen sink and occupy (that) area of the city of Boston. (We've) allowed them to stay for the last two months. I am mayor of all the people, not just 200 people who live on a little piece of dirt in the city of Boston. I want to make sure we're putting the rules and regulations of the city of Boston in place at this time," Menino told reporters Friday.

"This is beyond their rights. We're letting them stay there, we're not going to have them build a new town in there."

"At this time we have no plans for eviction, but I have public safety issues. If they break the public safety rules, we're going to go after them," he said.

WBZ-TV's Political Editor Jon Keller reports

"They can't just keep on rubbing it in our faces and say 'We're going to do all this stuff and you guys are bad.' There has to be a little give on their part. We've given a lot with them the last two months and I want them to respect the other people in the city of Boston. There's 630,000 people that live in this city."

"We had the normal number of officers on last night and that clearly was not enough to deal with the occupiers, so we've increased that number now.  Unfortunately, it's going to cost us more money," Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 Friday.

WBZ-TV's Sera Congi reports

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