24 Arrested as 'Days of Rage' Protests Come to Boston

Police arrested two dozen protesters for trespassing during two financial demonstrations in downtown Boston Friday.

Organizers of one demonstration gathered outside Bank of America's offices to protest the bank's foreclosure practices in what the Boston Herald reported was an act of civil disobedience with up to 3,000 participants.

"They wanted to be arrested, and we obliged," Boston police Commissioner Edward F. Davis told the newspaper.

Carolyn Grant, one of those arrested, told the Herald in a telephone interview the arrest was worth the trouble.

“We had to set a stand to let Bank of America know they cannot foreclose on families and put them out on the street,” Grant said, her companions in the holding unit cheering in the background.

Several blocks away, a separate group calling itself "Occupy Boston," modeled after the recent "Occupy Wall Street" movement underway in New York City, held its own demonstration to protest general corporate greed.

"It doesn’t look like the politicians are serving the people any more," said John, a protestor who would only give his first name to local ABC affiliate WCVB-TV. "They’re serving people with money."

Protesters held a sit-in demonstration and vowed to stay until their voices were heard.

"We're talking about government reform. We’re talking about finance reform," Nadeem Mazen from Occupy Boston said. "And we’re opening up a national dialogue as part of a really big issue that’s on so many people’s minds."

Bank of America spokesman T.J. Crawford dismissed the demonstration outside the bank as a publicity stunt.

“These individuals choose to ignore the facts and instead focus on increasingly aggressive PR stunts,” he said.