Supporters of the pro-Palestinian protester charged with punching a Boston Police officer and breaking his nostril cursed at reporters, shielding themselves with keffiyehs, after their companion was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Decide James M. Stanton ordered Roder Atwood, 21, of Somerville, held on $10,000 bail, drawing gasps from those that sat within the gallery at Boston Municipal Courtroom Central, the morning after a protest turned violent at Boston Frequent.
5 different protesters arrested throughout Tuesday night time’s melee have been ordered held on both $500 or $1,000 bail. All six arraigned on Wednesday, together with Atwood, additionally acquired orders to keep away from the Frequent.
The Boston Police Division arrested 13 protesters in whole, charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. The remaining seven defendants might be arraigned on Thursday.
In an announcement Wednesday afternoon, Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden condemned the violence.
“These defendants were not in court today because they were protesting,” Hayden mentioned. “They have been in court docket as a result of they dedicated crimes. For those who assault police and commit different offenses you’re going to be arrested and prosecuted, interval.
“Peaceful protests happen all the time in this city,” he added. “We support everyone’s right to protest. But these individuals chose against protesting peacefully and they are now facing the consequences of those choices.”
After the court docket session ended on Wednesday, a gaggle of supporters refused to reply questions from reporters on the chaos that ensued on the Frequent, persevering with a stretch of assaults towards metropolis cops.
Supporters blocked their faces and our bodies with masks and keffiyehs, a shawl related to Palestinian liberation. They grew agitated and combative as reporters pressed questions.
“You are harassing us,” one supporter mentioned. “(Expletive) leave, (expletive) leave. (Expletive) you.”
Atwood, a 21-year-old senior finding out cognitive science at Tufts College, additionally faces costs of assault and battery on a police officer and assault and battery leading to severe bodily damage.
Atwood is accused of punching a Boston police officer within the face, prompting that officer to be taken to a neighborhood hospital for therapy. In response to the incident report, the officer is probably going in want of reconstructive surgical procedure for a damaged nostril.
Three different BPD officers have been additionally injured, with one additionally being taken to the hospital for therapy on an damage thought-about to not be life-threatening.
Protection lawyer Peter A. O’Karma requested that Stanton set Atwood’s bail at $500, however the choose sided with the prosecution’s $10,000 determine.
“He … obviously has a significant number of members of the community supporting him,” O’Karma mentioned, whereas pointing at Atwood’s supporters. “He has a significant amount of ties to the community, has zero (criminal) record.”
The opposite 5 protesters arraigned on Wednesday confronted lesser bail. The choose issued $1,000 bail for Owen Woodcock, 26, and Amun Prophet, 25, of Boston. It was cited in court docket that each have earlier felony data, together with costs which were dismissed.
Woodcock was one among three individuals arrested on the Boston Pleasure parade in June 2024 in reference to an incident that concerned one suspect allegedly throwing a full water bottle at a metropolis officer.
Police charged Woodcock with disorderly conduct. Cops informed Woodcock that he was below arrest and instructed him to free his arms. He reportedly ignored officers’ calls for, in order that they bodily eliminated him from the group, the Herald reported on the time.
Prophet was one among 118 Emerson Faculty college students arrested throughout a standoff between classmates and police in April 2024, when BPD eliminated a pro-Palestine encampment in Boylston Place Alley.
Prophet pleaded not responsible to the cost, which was later dismissed in trade for neighborhood service.
Throughout Wednesday’s court docket session, Stanton ordered Prahlad Iyengar, 25, of Boston, Laith Hintzman, 19, of Boston, and Benjamin Andre Choucroun, 20, of Medford, to pay $500 bail.
MIT suspended Iyengar from campus final fall till January 2026 for publishing a pro-Palestine essay in Written Revolution, a multidisciplinary scholar journal in regards to the pro-Palestinian motion, in line with experiences.
Within the essay, Iyengar, a PhD scholar within the Division of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science, included imagery and language that “could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protest at MIT,” it was reported final December.
Choucroun, a junior at Tufts, is listed as an “executive editorial editor” for the campus newspaper, Tufts Every day. His latest columns are headlined, “The dangers of ignoring Ukraine’s neo-Nazis,” “Antisemitism damaged down: Weaponization of the label ‘antisemitism hurts Jews and Palestinians,” and “The Atlanta Police are attacking democracy. It’s time to struggle again.”
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