A snare drum, several bullhorns, and approximately 70 people amplified the demands of Boylston Students for Justice in Palestine, an unaffiliated Emerson student organization, during a walkout Thursday afternoon to condemn the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The protest began at 1 p.m. at the entrance of the 2 Boylston Place Alley with leaders draped in keffiyehs, masks, and black clothes renouncing the recent violation of a ceasefire in the Middle East. Chants of “free Palestine” and “shame” rang out along the alley as the sea of people parted to allow residents through.

On Tuesday, a fragile ceasefire fell apart after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered airstrikes on Gaza after Hamas refused to release remaining Israeli hostages in order to extend the deal. The strikes killed 400 people and shattered the agreement, which had been in place since January, and Netanyahu said the attack was “only the beginning.”

“The devastation is unconscionable, but make no mistake, the supposed ceasefire has never been legitimate,” one protester, wearing a mask and sunglasses, said into a megaphone. 

The group, which carried numerous Palestinian flags, moved from the alley down Boylston Street, stopping only to paste name-redacted emails between the group and the Emerson administration along an Emerson building. Later, the student mass moved into the street and stopped traffic by circulating at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont for ten minutes. In all, the demonstration lasted half an hour. 

Tensions between Boylston SJP and the Emerson administration have continued to rise since the arrest of 13 protesters last March and 118 protesters in the alley last April. Most recently, the group invited administrators to attend a town hall meeting, which a Beacon reporter also attended, but the administration did not attend, and instead emailed organizers a message stating that they would meet with students on an individual basis. 

The college declined The Beacon’s request for comment.

Several Emerson administrators including Associate Director of Residential Education Brandon Clark, Student Engagement and Leadership Director Jennifer Nival, and Interim Associate Dean of Campus Life Beth Moriarty stood at the entrance to the alley and watched the students gather and march. Moriarty stepped away to make several calls at one point, and at least two officers from the Emerson College Police Department spoke with a handful of individuals affiliated with Boylston SJP ahead of the group’s movement down the street. The administrators declined to speak with The Beacon.

Boylston SJP is among several organizations that have formed in support of Palestinian liberation over the last several years. The Israel-Palestine conflict dates back to the creation of Israel in 1948, with tensions flaring at different points in time over the course of history. 

In a premeditated attack, Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s military has killed an estimated 46,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in retaliation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Oct. 7 was the deadliest day in Israeli history; the aftermath has been the deadliest iteration of this war in Palestinian history. 

“When we look to our comrades in Gaza, we see their resilience, we see their spirit. It continues to inspire us here across the ocean, when we say Palestine will free us all, we mean it,” one protest leader said. “Gaza has lived under over a decade of land, air, and sea blockades and the people—they continue to fight for their freedom.”

Recently, Boylston SJP has increased demonstrations in light of the ongoing conflict as well as resistance against Emerson’s expression policies implemented in the aftermath of the arrests. Emerson is newly under federal scrutiny as President Donald Trump’s administration opens investigations into higher education institutions nationwide for alleged “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”

On Thursday, demonstrators moved in front of Emerson’s Walker building where they continued to chant and denounce the recent arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The same demonstrator who addressed the crowd in the alley read aloud an excerpt from a letter written by Khalil, and said the activist is “the latest in a long lineage of students who have been targeted for resisting the U.S. war machine.”

The speaker also called out what they called Emerson’s “tokenization” of EBONI, Emerson’s Black Organization with Natural Interest, and accused the college of “varying [the administration’s] history of repressing EBONI’s protests and demands.”

“Every student organization is now under a similar scrutiny,” the speaker said. “They say we can’t be political in our art. They say we can’t be political in our theater and our films, in any form of expression—which they claim is necessary for evolution.”

It was during the speech that protesters pasted months of alleged communications between the Emerson administration and Boylston SJP on the windows of the Walker building. The documents, which had redacted the names of the students core to the organization, showed correspondences between members of the group and the institution on various occasions. 

The communications ranged from discussions about taking an institutional stance on the conflict in the Middle East (specifically in reference to a statement signed by President Jay Bernhardt after the Oct. 7 attack) to cancellations of administrative appointments and debates about a college-chosen facilitator for a meeting.

The facilities team were seen removing the documents from the windows shortly after the protest concluded.

“[The administration is] scared of being confronted with their own complicity. They’re scared of being confronted with the fact that students and faculty are united against them. They’ve refused to respond to our demands. They’ve refused to respond to the faculty vote to dismiss all disciplinary actions,” the speaker said. “Will we demand here today that they answer for your inaction, answer for your complicity, answer for your police, answer for your crimes.”

When the crowd moved to block traffic across Boylston Street, ECPD was seen talking to protest leaders. The group responded by moving down the street with traffic in tow. Eventually, the students began marching in a circle at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont streets.

During this, one Beacon reporter observed a representative from the Student Government Association approach Christie Anglade, the vice president of student affairs, who was watching the protesters from the sidewalk, and say: “If you guys don’t talk to them [Boylston SJP], it’s gonna get worse.”

“I volunteered to help them … You saw my email,” Anglade, who declined to speak with The Beacon, responded.

The protesters were met unfavorably. Drivers shouted and recorded the students while honking car horns, and passersby were forced into the street to walk around the group that pooled along the sidewalk. Some were more polite when asking them to move; others were more aggressive.

“You all are the terrorists,” one driver, who was filming from his car, said. 

Several in opposition to the group were seen recording with cell phones during the walkout, most of whom were met by protesters who held up keffiyehs and other items to block the cameras.

Twenty minutes into the protest, the group continued into Boston Common, eventually meeting at the Parkman Bandstand. While the group was on the move, people continued to meet them with aggression and opposition.

In one instance witnessed by a Beacon reporter, a man grabbed at a camera one demonstrator was holding. The protester pushed the man away while both yelled profanities at the other. The man was later seen speaking with ECPD.

The walkout concluded after organizers declared that the fight for Palestinian liberation was not over, and that they would continue taking action in support of Palestine. An hour after the action concluded, Boylston SJP posted a flyer on Instagram advertising another rally next Monday, March 24, at 4 p.m.

It is unclear if demonstrators faced any disciplinary action from the college.