Police Investigating After Man Uses Axe To Threaten Pro-Palestine Protesters in Harvard Square

The Cambridge Police Department is investigating a confrontation at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Harvard Square last weekend after a video circulated on social media showed a man who appeared to be wielding an axe and threatening protesters.

The Palestinian Youth Movement’s Boston chapter posted the video of the incident, which was edited, on Wednesday, writing that the man “recklessly drove his car into our march, hurled expletives, and reached for his axe, threatening protesters.”

In the video, which has now circulated widely on social media, the man can be seen driving his car towards demonstrators on Massachusetts Ave. in the middle of Harvard Square. He was recorded repeatedly shouting expletives at protesters — calling the protesters “Nazis” and homophobic slurs before opening his car door, brandishing an axe, and threatening to kill them.

Cambridge police were present at the demonstration when the altercation occurred. CPD spokesperson Robert P. Reardon wrote that officers “observed a tense, verbal argument” and “attempted to de-escalate the situation.”

“After the individuals had been separated, officers attempted to speak with those involved to understand what had occurred. While very few people shared information with police, officers did learn that the motorist had brandished an axe,” Reardon wrote, adding that a police report was filed and an investigation began the same day.

The video was not shared with CPD until after it was posted online, according to Reardon.

Officers can be seen trying to keep a crowd of protesters away from the man’s vehicle, but the man was not apprehended at the protest. And the post by the Palestinian Youth Movement alleges that officers “hurriedly let him go.”

Nearly a week later, no arrests have been made, though detectives have identified “some of the individuals involved,” Reardon wrote.

The demonstration — scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Cambridge Common — was organized to demand humanitarian aid be allowed into Gaza and to protest CPD after three protesters were arrested and several others were pepper sprayed in Harvard Square last week.

CPD confirmed that they used pepper spray at the protest the previous weekend, but said that it was not used as crowd control — which is prohibited under city law. Instead, Reardon wrote that pepper spray was used against specific individuals who had “refused to comply and were actively assaulting police officers.”

The protesters, who were protesting Capital One Bank’s investments in Israel, face charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Two of the three also face additional charges, including assaulting a police officer.

The Palestinian Youth Movement also alleged in the post that the man may have been a member of Iron Workers Local 7 — a Boston-based labor union that represents more than 3,000 members. The group urged the union to immediately investigate the man’s membership and denounce his actions.

Iron Workers Local 7 and the Palestinian Youth Movement did not respond to Friday requests for comment.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.