housands of demonstrators from around the country are expected to come to Boston for the Oct. 3 presidential debate to protest what they consider a lack of real choice in the November election and to advocate for myriad causes, organizers said.
A spokesman for one protest group, Boston Mobilization for Survival, said demonstrators will engage in civil disobedience that could disrupt the debate at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
''We might want to stop the debates from happening because they're not real debates,'' said Boston-based organizer Roni Krouzman. Protesters might decide to form a human barrier by linking arms to block a road leading to the university, Krouzman said.
''Whatever the police do in response is a different story. We're counting on the Boston police to act responsibly,'' Krouzman said. The group's emphasis is on ''creative nonviolence,'' he added, and is intended ''to drive home our overall point that these closed debates are indicative of the closed nature of our political and economic system.''
Authorities faced a similar challenge in March, when thousands of demonstrators gathered in Boston for the five-day BIO2000 Conference on biotechnology. The protests were generally peaceful.
The State Police, which will coordinate security for the debate with the Secret Service and Boston police, would not comment yesterday on specific off-limits areas. A State Police spokesman, however, said one option being considered is marking off a ''protest pen'' where demonstrators can gather.
Other state officials have said that nearly the entire Columbia Point peninsula in Dorchester will be closed to the public during the debate between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. Public tickets to the event are nearly nonexistent.
Krouzman's organization and other groups hope to divert some of the intense national focus from the debate inside the university to demonstrations outside.
In the week leading up to the debate, beginning with a student ''teach-in'' on Wednesday at Boston University, a series of rallies, counterdebates, and street festivals are being planned.
On Oct. 1, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader will address a rally at the FleetCenter that organizer Patrick Keaney said will be a ''progressive'' alternative to the ''infomercial'' between Gore and Bush.
''We think this is important because what Ralph Nader stands for is true democracy where people's voices are heard,'' Keaney said. ''I think we're going to see how outraged people are. Our event is a way for people to come together to channel their energy and channel their frustrations.''
Nader has been excluded from the debate by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which established a 15 percent base of support in national polls to be allowed to participate.
In addition to the Nader rally, nearly 1,000 senior citizens from throughout New England will attend a summit on Oct. 2 at the IBEW union hall in Dorchester to protest the rising cost of prescription drugs and other pressures on Medicare and Social Security.
Also on Oct. 3, two demonstrations are planned in Boston before the debate. One, beginning at noon on Boston Common, will follow a ''freedom for sale trail'' to protest outside corporations that are helping to sponsor the debate. Krouzman said the march will include stops at Fidelity Group and FleetBoston Financial Corp.
Another rally is planned for 5 p.m. at Dudley Station in Roxbury, to protest the death penalty and the US corrections system. Krouzman said that demonstrators will attempt to march to the debate site after the rally.
