Businesses across Boston town centre closed down after an illegal encampment was set up in a car park. Police received several reports on the evening of Tuesday, August 22 that people were causing issues with businesses and in and around Boston town centre, with the majority of these reports around harassment and verbal abuse.

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The reports stated that people from the illegal encampment were behind the incidents. Boston Market was cancelled on Wednesday, August 23 due to the alleged anti-social behaviour and many businesses have closed - including the Moon Under Water Wetherspoons pub and Boston Leisure Centre.

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About the story

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I worked alongside my colleague Joe Griffin and the Night Owl team to bring the latest breaking news of the illegal encampment that was set up in Boston through this live blog. Whilst Joe was at the scene in Boston and when the live blog was handed over to me, I made sure I shared all the latest developments.

 

Updates included scouring social media for any shop closures and immediately sharing them in the blog. I also relayed updates from what Joe was witnessing at the scene of the encampment - ensuring I provided a fair tone whilst letting our readers know what was happening in real time.

I also quickly wrote a breakout on a new dispersal order issued by Lincolnshire Police and made sure to get the link to this into the blog shortly after.

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The superintendent of Lincolnshire Police has said he is "concerned and upset" after businesses in Boston had to close due to anti-social behaviour from an illegal encampment. Police received reports of businesses receiving harassment and verbal abuse in Boston after an illegal encampment was set up in Tunnard Street car park on Tuesday, August 22.

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A 48-hour dispersal order was then issued by police for the encampment to leave Boston, which it eventually did by around 11am on Thursday, August 24. It then headed to Skegness where it tried to set up in Tesco car park before being moved on by police with a county-wide dispersal order, and is now believed to have left the county and be in the Norfolk area.

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As well as manning the blog to bring breaking news on the encampment situation, I conducted an interview with Superintendent Pat Coates of Lincolnshire Police, to clear up questions surrounding the illegal encampment. 

 

This piece informed our readers of the actions that Lincolnshire Police had and continued to take to deal with the encampment. We put this piece out on the same day.

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Social media reception and viewing figures

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The live blog received 31,590 page views and total engaged minutes of 22,702. The county-wide dispersal order breakout also received a lot of engagement, with 14,166 page views and 6,752 total engaged minutes.