Update: Dummy in Kenmore Square bomb scare

UPDATE 10:55: Boston Police bomb squad guys -- one in a full space suit, plus their bomb-killing robot -- were called in when a dummy protesting the banking industry and global warming was found at the door of a Bank of America branch in Kenmore Square before it opened this morning.

“The real dummies evict people and fuel climate chaos,” read a sign stuck across the mannequin’s chest. It was dressed in a Red Sox hat, blue hoody and blue jeans and slumped against the front doors, which were barred with a U-lock. Cop cars, ambulances, a bomb squad truck and members of the press were out in force after the dummy was reported to police at 8:30 a.m. Police taped off much of the square, blocking traffic up Brookline Avenue.

Officers removed the dummy from the door and left it slumped on the sidewalk. They retreated, then came back and inspected it, retreated, cut the lock off the door and dug through nearby newspaper boxes, retreated, entered and inspected the bank, etc. By the time we left around 10:30 a.m., nothing had blown up. Another wonderful start to a wonderful day in Boston.

 Photos by Greg Cook.

 UPDATE: According to our receptionist, Kim Mullaney, the dummy has been hanging out in front of the BOA since at least 8:30 am, when she walked about five feet from it. She says there was a cop standing on the corner who hadn't seemed to notice it yet. 

10:20 am: We wish we had a better source for what's going on down the street than, y'know, the world's fastest growing microblogging site -- note to Boston Police: this is what your Twitter account is for -- but the only other source we've got is what the photogs told us when we were forced to make a 10-minute detour around a shut-down Kenmore Square about 20 minutes ago. Evidently protesters chained a dummy to the Bank of America doors, and the bomb squad was called in. We couldn't see much from our vantage point -- the Wall-E looking bomb-bot was kinda in the way -- but some reports say that dummy has some kind of device strapped to it. 

Best Tweets so far: 

@BuddMeyers: Bomb scare in Kenmore Square. Yankee fans?

@toddcuff: Police are disarming a bomb in kenmore? Crazy! This is f'ing with my coffee purchasing, and my spottless record of not getting blown up.

@jonscott2008: Bomb scare at Bank of America in Kenmore Square. Comm Ave shut down. Someone in Boston not happy w/bailout?

@BostonPhoenix: Hope bomb scare doesn't set a precendent. If BPD starts blowing up every dummy in Kenmore Square, there'll be no BU students left