Hillary Clinton appeared live at the Wang Theater in Boston on Friday evening as part of a traveling tour discussing her new book, “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, & Liberty.” The author and creator of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, Jeff Kinney, joined her on the stage as the event’s moderator. Clinton talked about “books, democracy, and parenting,” according to a Facebook post promoting the event.
About an hour and a half before the event, a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters that grew to nearly 100 people gathered outside the theater on Tremont Street to criticize Clinton for her silence on the Israel-Palestine conflict, blaming her and other politicians for not speaking up on the topic.
The picket had been promoted the day before in a joint Instagram post between Emerson Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jews Against Zionism Boylston, Pan-Afrikan Liberation Program, Jamaica Plain for Palestine, Boston Trans & Queer Collective, and Suffolk SJP.
The protesters were situated outside the front entrance of the theater, chanting messages like “Free, free, Palestine” and “Up, up, with liberation / down, down, with occupation,” while patrons filtered inside of the venue.
They waved Palestinian flags and directed their chants toward Clinton and her supporters, saying, “Hillary your hands are red / 200,000 people dead” and “Hillary, Hillary, you can’t hide / you’re supporting genocide.”
Protesters declined to speak to reporters.
Many event attendees grew frustrated by the protest, and a few event-goers engaged with the protesters, saying that they were not helping by protesting. Event security kept a clear path to the doors for attendees, and protesters stayed near the street where additional police cars were present.
By 7 p.m., tensions were heightened as event security and attendees began yelling back at the protesters, telling them to stop protesting. The event staff opened a second entrance on the right side of the theater near Tufts Medical, according to two Tufts security guards on site. Some attendees entered the event through the right-side entrance to avoid the protest at the front.
The protest then halted traffic on Tremont Street and was met with some honking from cars attempting to pass by. Boston Police quickly diverted traffic to a side street and created a police car barricade at the corner of Stuart and Tremont Streets. BPD diverted traffic onto Stuart Street, shutting down the block of Tremont between Stuart and Tremont right outside of Wang Theater.
The street remained shut down and the protest continued for a little over an hour.
There were approximately one dozen Boston Police cars around the area, but no officers interacted with the protest.
Event goers continued making their way inside unobstructed. Caroline Coney, a Clinton supporter who was not attending the event inside, expressed her distaste with the protest.
“If you want to stop problems, screaming and yelling never works,” said Coney, a Massachusetts resident. “I feel bad for both sides. It’s horrible what happened in Israel, and it’s horrible what’s happening in Palestine. But this ain’t gonna work.”
After the protest moved onto the street, Coney began engaging with protesters, yelling, “What do you expect America to do?” and “America is not hurting Palestine. We helped them. We sent aid.”
Shortly after 8 p.m., protesters began walking south on Tremont Street. BPD removed their barricade and cars resumed driving down Tremont Street. The group dispersed near the YMCA. One police wagon and three police cars were present near that location.
