Almost 50 people arrested at South Station protest calling for ceasefire in Gaza

If Not Now Boston organized the protest to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, which coincides with President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Thursday night.

More than 40 people were arrested at a protest near South Station Thursday morning, police said, where about 200 people were in the streets calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Boston police said they arrested 47 individuals, including one minor, at around 8:18 a.m. for blocking the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street in Dewey Square.

If Not Now Boston organized the protest to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, which coincides with President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Thursday night. Around 8 a.m., Boston police responded to Dewey Square for the pre-planned demonstration and warned protesters to stay out of the intersections.

“During this conversation the protest organizers stated that they would pass the message along to the group but they could not control what other people would do,” the police report, written by Donald Wightman, said.

20 minutes later, Boston police said a group of 200 people went into the intersection and formed a line to stop traffic. The police report noted that the morning commute was bustling, and the intersection also frequently accommodates emergency vehicles.

A police captain, using a cruiser’s loudspeaker, told the protesters that they should move or be arrested, the report said. A protester then used a megaphone to tell others to “make a decision about what feels right to you,” according to the police report.

“If you don’t want to risk getting arrested please move to the sidewalk in the next five minutes,” the protester said, according to the report. “Otherwise we are going to continue standing here until there is a ceasefire and until Palestine is free.”

On social media, the group said that arrests were happening, “but we fight on.”

“Today, we unite in protest and raise our voices in song: “We are not afraid, we are not afraid. We will fight for liberation ’cause I know why we were made,” they shared on X . Some protesters moved to the sidewalk, the police said, but “a large group” stayed in the intersection. The report said the area was gridlocked, and drivers were honking and leaving their cars.