Police move in to arrest pro-Palestinian supporters who were blocking the road after the Emerson College Palestinian protest camp was cleared by police in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 25, 2024. According to Boston Police, 108 people were arrested and 4 officers were hurt as they broke up the camp. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she directed police to take down an Emerson College student encampment for public safety reasons, thereby empowering the commissioner to make 108 arrests to enforce the city ordinance it was violating.
Wu, in remarks Friday, reiterated her support for a police response the prior morning that has been criticized by some community members and city councilors, including the body’s President Ruthzee Louijeune, as being “heavy-handed.”
The mayor added that she was behind that response, which led to clashes between pro-Palestinian student protestors and police, and had been working closely with Emerson school officials and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox for several days before deciding to proceed with removal of the encampment.
Read: Boston Police Department releases names of protesters arrested at Emerson College encampment
“The commissioner and I jointly agreed that the growing encampment needed to be removed in order to address the public safety and fire hazards that it presented,” Wu said in a statement first reported by the Boston Globe. “With that shared understanding, it was within the jurisdiction of the commissioner and his department to plan and oversee the details of implementation.
“I have full trust and confidence in Commissioner Cox’s leadership and judgment to ensure safety across our city, and I am grateful to our police officers for their daily service.”
The ordinance police were enforcing was an anti-encampment ban the mayor was able to get through the City Council last fall, a measure that gave police the authority to remove homeless encampments and the tents that the administration said were shielding criminal activity and weapons in the Mass and Cass zone.
The Boston Police Department reported five officers were injured, some more severe than others, while authorities worked to clear an Emerson encampment that was blocking traffic at Boylston Place at about 2 a.m. Thursday.
Officers were injured while attempting to separate protestors who inter-locked their arms and actively resisted arrest, a police report released on Friday states.
While BPD said there were no reported injuries to the 108 protestors taken into custody, students told media outlets otherwise throughout the day, with some suffering “open wounds” from zip ties.
The mayor stated that the police response was necessary, adding that campus police had requested backup from the BPD, to get control of an “escalating situation,” but others, including the council president and the lone Jewish voice on the council disagreed.
“I caution against heavy-handed responses to protest,” Louijeune said in a statement. “While there are legitimate public safety concerns, the presence of tents alone does not transform a peaceful protest into an unpeaceful one.”
Benjamin Weber, the only Jewish councilor, said Friday he agreed with remarks made the prior day by Louijeune and Councilor-at-Large Henry Santana, both of whom called for cases against the protestors to be dismissed.
“No one should be arrested for expressing their political views,” Weber said in a statement, while Santana said he doesn’t think that the “handling of the Emerson student protestors reflects who we are as a city.”
City Councilor Ed Flynn, however, joined the mayor in defending the response from both Emerson College and police, praising the “great restraint and professionalism” that was shown.
A police report highlights how Police Capt. Sean Martin told protest organizers that the department received more than a handful of complaints from neighbors since last Sunday regarding noise disturbances and protests on Boylston Place — the encampment was located in an alley that leads to the Transportation Building downtown.
Bodycam footage released by the Boston Police Department showed Martin urging the protestors to disperse voluntarily, saying that officers didn’t want to arrest anyone and supported the right to protest — a pitch that was met with a rallying “Free, free Palestine” chant from a protester that prompted the captain to start initiating arrests.
That’s when the situation escalated, with protesters refusing to move and take down their tents, the report states.
“Officers were immediately met with passive, active and violent resistance as teams approached,” the report states. “Arrest teams proceeded to take suspects into custody who deliberately remained in the walkway.”
Trying to control protesters who remained on scene proved difficult, with the area turning dangerous. Several protesters started to push back as they tried to pull arrestees away from police, according to the report.
The police report also details an altercation between a protester, later identified as Willow Carretero Chavez, and an officer wearing a “full hi-visibility Boston Police Bicycle Patrol uniform” on Boylston Street.
“The suspect ignored (the officer’s) orders to move out of the street,” the report states. “When the officer attempted to escort Carretero Chavez out of the vehicle’s path by grasping onto the suspect’s bicycle, the (suspect) became violent and pulled back causing (the officer) to fall from his police mountain bike and on top of the suspect’s bike.”
“Carretero Chavez then began to grab his bike and drag (the officer) who was attempting to stand up from the ground after being pulled down off his police mountain bike,” it continues.
Addressing the situation at an unrelated Friday event, Wu said the images and video of student-police clashes were “painful to watch” and that the city is reviewing bodycam footage to determine what occurred and what “level of force” was used.
“Even if protestors choose to want to get arrested, for example, we need to take every opportunity to ensure that there is safety involved for all,” the mayor said, “and so that is going to be a case-by-case judgment.”
