Bangor man charged in Philadelphia protest

A Bangor man was one of several people charged Wednesday in connection with a fight that broke out during a protest outside a biotechnology conference one day earlier in Philadelphia.

Brenton Hall, 21, of Bangor was charged with resisting arrest, conspiracy and disorderly conduct, along with three other protesters, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday in its online newspaper. The charges were announced that day by Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn M. Abraham.

A fifth protester, Guillaume Beaulieu, 23, from Canada, was charged with aggravated assault against a city police officer who later died of a heart attack. The district attorney said the officer who died had been hit somehow during the struggle by a foot or a fist or both, according to the Inquirer.

An estimated 250 protesters gathered Tuesday outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center where the biotechnology conference BIO2005 was being held. The protesters were voicing their opposition to genetically modified crops and biological weapons among other biotechnology issues.