A Boston pro-Palestine protest to mark the anniversary of the October 2023 assault on Gaza led to a clash between the police and around 200 protesters, ending in 13 arrests.
Videos from the night show police cruisers driving through a downtown intersection lined with cops and protesters. When a protester kicks a passing police car, a cop immediately throws them to the ground. Within moments other police officers jump on top of the protester and general commotion between cops and protesters breaks out.
Boston’s Democratic Mayor, Michelle Wu, characterized the incident as an attack on the police and said those arrested should be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law.” This is the same Democratic Party politician Zohran Mamdani has repeatedly said he would emulate, calling her “the most effective Democrat in the nation.”
Red Scare–era charges
Initially, the charges against the protesters included resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. But the District Attorney, another Democrat, escalated the situation by announcing felony charges for all 13 of those arrested. Among other felonies, they are now charged with “promotion of anarchy,” also commonly referred to as “inciting a riot.”
The DA’s office said these new charges resulted from an “investigation” in which prosecutors looked at Instagram posts made by Students for Justice in Palestine and decided to charge participants in the protest with spreading “violent imagery and rhetoric,” dusting off a century-old repressive law in the process.
The “promotion of anarchy” charge harkens back to the post–WWI Red Scare when, amidst general political upheaval, the state targeted anarchists and communists. This reveals the hypocrisy of capitalist democracy. When the political and social situation is calm, the ruling class can pretend to defend the right to free speech. But in periods of widespread anger, the actions of those in charge reveal what they really defend: strict restrictions on the liberty of any who oppose government policies.
“Free Speech” and the Democrats
The Democrats are thus challenging Trump for the lead in arbitrary repressive prosecutions. This is an attack on free speech and freedom of assembly by the Democrats—the party that runs the show in Boston from the District Attorney’s office to the Governor’s mansion. All these Democratic politicians have defended the felony charges as a necessary measure to maintain order.
Democrats try to convince us that they are the force preserving democracy in the face of Trump’s excessive flexibility with the rule of law. But their actions here reveal that the law is always a weapon for arbitrary use in the hands of the ruling class. They decide in any given circumstance what constitutes an unlawful assembly or a threat to public safety. In Boston, the Democrats have decided to throw the entire book at a dozen people standing up against two years of genocide. They hope to discourage others from protesting in the future—but this is only wishful thinking on their part.