Peace Parade marchers hope for a unified event next year

[unhappycamper]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/03/16/saint-patrick-peace-parade-marchers-hopeful-for-unified-event-next-year/LXvwDb8pOfgpjIVnXnmj8J/story.html



Kia Dumas, of Stoughton, was welcomed to jump in and help carry the rainbow flag with members of Boston Pride.

Peace Parade marchers hope for a unified event next year
By Zachary T. Sampson
| Globe Correspondent March 17, 2014

The police phalanxes, Clydesdale horses, and the float carrying St. Patrick had already finished their raucous trek through South Boston late Sunday when a second contingency of marchers brought their parade down a now deserted Dorchester Street.

Participants in the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade have coalesced around their exclusion from the main parade, which they follow a mile behind. By late afternoon, they are marching down a route littered with the signs of earlier revelry: stumbling stragglers looking for a way home, discarded plastic cups, and spent cigarette butts.

“It’s really idiotic that we’re not allowed in the parade,” said Pat Scanlon, coordinator for the Smedley D. Butler Brigade of Veterans For Peace, which runs the alternative event. “We should have one big parade.”

The South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade is organized by the Allied War Veterans Council, which has long turned away groups that wish to march espousing political causes. Sign-wielding participants in the Peace Parade included members of LGBTQ equality group Boston Pride, anti-drone activists, citizens against nuclear weapons, and some representatives from local churches.