Pro-Palestine protestors picket outside Biden presidential motorcade, Seaport fundraiser
Around 100 protesters followed President Joe Biden through his visit to Boston on Tuesday afternoon, shutting down traffic for nearly an hour at a Seaport intersection near a fundraiser he attended.
“He has abandoned the Palestinian people, he has abandoned humanity, and he has abandoned his constituency,” yelled Naphtali Crosby, a local organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, outside of South Station minutes before the presidential motorcade drove past around 4:30 p.m. “And we are abandoning you, Joe!”
The demonstration, organized by the Boston branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Boston Coalition for Palestine, started outside the entrance of South Station at 3:30 p.m.. After the motorcade passed, the group of protesters followed in Biden’s wake up Summer Street before stopping and circling the intersection of Congress and B Streets until 5:45 p.m.
Biden flew into Boston after making a campaign stop in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Tuesday morning. The president made stops at two campaign receptions in Boston, the White House said in his schedule, though they did not specify where the receptions were located.
Boston Police warned of traffic disruptions and street closures near Logan International Airport, the Back Bay, and the Seaport District from noon to 8 p.m. related to the presidential visit on Tuesday.
Protesters said they intended to disrupt the visit of “Genocide Joe,” citing their protest outside his last fundraising events in Boston in December. Signs
The protest remained peaceful Tuesday, though tension with pro-Israel counter-protestors, drivers and walkers in the area flared intermittently. A handful of people with an Israel flag and a “(Expletive) Hamas” shirt followed behind the group. At one point a scuffle nearly broke out when a passerby spat on a protestors shoes and shoved another.
At the intersection where cars remained stopped on both streets for most of the hour, one truck laid on a thunderous horn while residents in the area wandered out to yell at and record the protesters.
“I can’t imagine what they think they’re doing other than pissing people off,” said Joe Grant, standing to the side at the Seaport intersection in an expletive-laden discussion of the group.
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“Clearly we had an impact,” said Crosby. “There’s no way that the people who were attending Joe Biden’s event celebrating their decadence and wealth were able to ignore what was happening outside. Ultimately, there are people who feel like we are a nuisance, but even those people help to elevate our voices by expressing their aggravation and letting other people know that this movement is happening. And that is not afraid or shying away from any sort of agitation.”
The crowd disbanded in the Seaport at about 5:45 p.m., chanting “We’ll be back.” Boston Police said no arrests were made during the protest.
Pro-Palestinian supporters rally near South Station as President Joe Biden makes a campaign stop in Boston. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Pro-Palestinian supporters face off against a police line outside South Station Tuesday as President Joe Biden makes a campaign stop in Boston. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Pro-Palestinian supporters march into the Seaport Tuesday to protest President Joe Biden who made a campaign stop in Boston. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)