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Cambridge police said the department is aware of the incident that took place Sunday and are actively investigating.
Police are investigating after a man appeared to brandish a weapon and threaten to kill pro-Palestinian protesters in Cambridge Sunday.
Organizers shared a video of the man berating protesters in Harvard Square, including pulling out what appeared to be a hatchet. In a expletive-laced outburst captured in a video posted by protest organizers, the man said he would “f–ing kill” protesters, whom he referred to as “Nazis,” and used a homophobic slur.
He then opened his car door and physically indicated that he would use a hatchet, the video shows.
The same man “recklessly drove his car into our march,” the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Boston chapter and the Boston Coalition for Palestine posted on Instagram. Protest organizers said on Instagram that police “watched on”; officers can be seen briefly in the video appearing to walk toward the car and protesters as a protester yells that the man had an axe.
“They posture as neutral while doing exactly what they’re paid to do: shield Zionism, guard capital, and punish protestors of genocide,” the organizers wrote in the Instagram caption.
Cambridge police confirmed the department “is aware of the incident.”
“There is an active investigation on-going and we will provide an update when more information is available,” Cambridge police spokesperson Sergeant Bob Reardon told Boston.com.
Protesters gathered in the Cambridge Common for the “Rise Up for Gaza” march around 1 p.m. Sunday. The protesters appeared to march towards the center of Harvard Square, lining Massachusetts Avenue and Brattle Street in the video.
Before the demonstration on Sunday, organizers publicized the protest as “against the starvation genocide and local police brutality,” according to a press release.
“Gaza will not stand alone, in Cambridge and cities across the globe we rise for Palestine, for a world without Zionism, and against every form of U.S. imperialism,” said Lea Kayali, an organizer with PYM, in the release. “We return to the streets, united against genocide, united to defend each other, and unbreakable in our commitment to a liberated Palestine, from the River to the Sea”
The organizers referred to previous incidents, including one where Cambridge police arrested three protesters and used pepper spray earlier this month, the Harvard Crimson reported. Another recent incident involved police deploying a pepper ball in an apartment building that circulated through its vents and affected more than 50 units.
The protest organizers did not return a request for comment Thursday evening.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
