Cambridge Police Arrest 3 Participants in Harvard Square Pro-Palestine Protest

Updated August 5, 2025, at 1:18 a.m.

Cambridge police made three arrests and used pepper spray to disperse a pro-Palestine demonstration in Harvard Square on Sunday afternoon, marking the first major altercation at a protest near the University’s campus in months.

At least three protesters were pushed to the ground and handcuffed by police officers, according to videos and images reviewed by The Crimson. Several protesters were seen pouring water on their eyes, which were red and apparently irritated by a chemical agent.

The Cambridge Police Department confirmed the arrests and the use of pepper spray in a statement issued Monday, which added that an investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed against individuals who have not yet been identified by the department.

Demonstrators — who were affiliated with Boycott, Divest, Sanctions Boston, a pro-Palestine advocacy group — have gathered for the past two weeks outside of Capital One Bank’s Harvard Square location on John F. Kennedy Street to protest the bank’s loans to an Israeli weapons manufacturer.

The protests in previous weeks had been peaceful and had not seen police involvement, until Sunday, when more than 20 CPD officers flocked to the scene to contain the demonstration. Past weeks’ protests had blocked the sidewalk and entrances to Capital One.

Officers barricaded several parking spaces in front of Capital One before the protest began Sunday morning, allowing demonstrators to march in the space marked off by metal barriers without entirely blocking the entrance to Capital One and its adjoining cafe. Protesters started their demonstration by marching in circles and holding up signs with pro-Palestine messages, including “Capital One is capitalizing on genocide” and “Capital One funds the war machine.”

But roughly an hour into the protest, a protester began pushing the barricade out toward the street, according to two other demonstrators. An officer grabbed the protester by her arm and apprehended her after she ran toward the sidewalk and away from the barricade.

Some protesters said the incident began after police had tried to push the metal barriers inward and contain the demonstration into a smaller area. Police said that the protesters had attempted to move the barriers out into a bike lane that had intentionally been left open when the barriers were erected.

When other protesters tried to intervene in the first arrest, police began pushing protesters and using pepper spray, the demonstrators said. Demonstrators declined to give their names, saying they needed approval from BDS Boston to share their identities. Most participants wore masks or other face coverings.

A video reviewed by The Crimson also captured at least five police officers and multiple protesters pushing against each other along JFK Street. The mass of shoving people moved down the street before an officer eventually arrested a person on the ground outside Capital One.

As the altercation continued, protesters started yelling expletives at the officers and eventually began a chant that compared CPD to the Ku Klux Klan and the Israeli military.

During the confrontation, police closed off vehicle traffic for the block of JFK Street between Mt. Auburn Street and Brattle Street.

About six CPD patrol cars and the department’s specialized van were present at the scene, and at least two ambulances carrying emergency medical technicians arrived shortly after the incident. EMTs who responded after the incident distributed packets of wipes designed to neutralize irritant sprays. The commotion surrounding the protest caught the attention of several passersby, many of whom stopped to watch or record the arrests on their phones.

Officers cleared the area, and road traffic resumed uninterrupted by 1:45 p.m.

The protesters rallied in front of Capital One for an hour before the arrests. A pro-Israel counterprotester blasted music from speakers just feet from the protest and was not confronted or arrested.

Several protesters distributed flyers, which shared the names and contact information of two senior Capital One executives and promoted boycotts of several additional Capital One locations in the greater Boston area, to passersby. The flyers directed readers to contact Capital One employees and urge them to terminate the bank’s loans to Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer.

In the Monday statement, CPD wrote that the three arrested individuals were Anna Epstein, 21, of Belmont, who allegedly pushed the metal barrier outward; David Fleig, 51, of Arlington; and Bronte Wen, 27, of Somerville. All three were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and Fleig and Wen face additional charges, including assault and battery.

Police claimed that Fleig charged an officer during Epstein’s arrest and struck another officer in the mouth with a megaphone. The CPD statement also alleged that Wen threw a “balloon filled with an unknown substance” onto an officer, who reported feeling a “burning sensation.”

The department’s use of pepper spray drew swift criticism from protesters, who noted that Cambridge law prohibits police from using chemical irritants as crowd control during protests.

CPD claimed in the Monday statement that officers did not use the spray “as a means of crowd control, but as a use of force targeting specific individuals who had refused to comply and were actively assaulting police officers.”

The arrests on Sunday were the first reported arrests of pro-Palestine protesters in Cambridge in months. Last May, nine protesters were arrested for their involvement in a pro-Palestine encampment at MIT. The protesters — who were arrested by MIT’s police department and the Massachusetts State Police — faced trespassing charges that were later dropped.

Harvard’s own student-led encampment in Harvard Yard during the spring of 2024 ended peacefully after negotiations between organizers and University President Alan M. Garber ’76. No protesters have been arrested on University grounds.

Correction: August 3, 2025

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the arrests took place Sunday morning. In fact, the protest was scheduled to begin at noon, and the arrests took place at approximately 1 p.m.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at amann.mahajan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

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