Two protesters arrested outside Police Department

Family, friends of the late Moses Harris stage weekly picket

LOWELL » Two Lowell residents were arrested Saturday during a weekly protest staged by community members and the family of 25-year-old Moses Harris, whose body was found in the Merrimack River on March 7, months after he disappeared while attempting to avoid police.

According to the Lowell Police Department’s Saturday arrest log, 50-year-old Tina Degree and 29-year-old Jackson Patrick, were both charged with disorderly conduct, wanton destruction of property and disturbing the peace while armed. Both have since been bailed out.

The conflict between police and nearly 20 protesters caused a portrait unveiling ceremony in honor of Mayor John Leahy at nearby City Hall to be interrupted by distraught members of Harris’ family, who pleaded with Leahy and others on the scene to have Degree released by police.

Attempts by The Sun to reach the Lowell Police Department for details about the arrests were unsuccessful. Protesters provided their accounts of what happened, including Emmanuel Wahpo — Harris’ stepfather, who described Saturday’s protest as peaceful and the arrests unjust.

“Two protesters have been arrested for doing nothing,” Wahpo said. “They gave them no notice of why they were being arrested.”

Other protesters, including Karen Rossow, who identified herself as a protester with the Massachusetts Action Against Police Brutality, said protesters were behind police barricades at all times Saturday. According to Wahpo, the metal barricades along the perimeter were placed there by police specifically for them. Signs on the barricades state, “No protests beyond this point.”

Multiple protesters said the conflict came about when they were told by police not to block the department’s Arcand Drive driveway. According to the protesters’ accounts, police then apprehended Degree. Wahpo and other protesters said Degree was targeted by police because she is Black, a conclusion they reached because she was standing “shoulder-to-shoulder” with a white

Julia Malakie / LOWELL Sun Family of Moses harris, whose body was found in the Merrimack river earlier this month, plead for help at Lowell city hall after a friend was arrested during their weekly Saturday march near the Lowell Police department. harris' stepfather emmanuel Wahpo, left, and his mother Louise harris daddeh, center, plead for help as Mayor John Leahy and his son Jack listen.