Supporters of the pro-Palestinian protester charged with punching a Boston Police officer and breaking his nose cursed at reporters, shielding themselves with keffiyehs, after their companion was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Judge James M. Stanton ordered Roder Atwood, 21, of Somerville, held on $10,000 bail, drawing gasps from those who sat in the gallery at Boston Municipal Court Central, the morning after a protest turned violent at Boston Common.
Five other protesters arrested during Tuesday night’s melee have been ordered held on either $500 or $1,000 bail. All six arraigned on Wednesday, including Atwood, also received orders to stay away from the Common.
The Boston Police Department arrested 13 protesters in total, charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. The remaining seven defendants will be arraigned on Thursday.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden condemned the violence.
“These defendants were not in court today because they were protesting,” Hayden said. “They were in court because they committed crimes. If you assault police and commit other offenses you’re going to be arrested and prosecuted, period.
“Peaceful protests happen all the time in this city,” he added. “We support everyone’s right to protest. But these individuals chose against protesting peacefully and they are today facing the consequences of those choices.”
After the court session ended on Wednesday, a group of supporters refused to answer questions from reporters on the chaos that ensued at the Common, continuing a stretch of attacks against city police officers.
Supporters blocked their faces and bodies with masks and keffiyehs, a scarf connected to Palestinian liberation. They grew agitated and combative as reporters pressed questions.
“You are harassing us,” one supporter said. “(Expletive) leave, (expletive) leave. (Expletive) you.”
Atwood, a 21-year-old senior studying cognitive science at Tufts University, also faces charges of assault and battery on a police officer and assault and battery resulting in serious bodily injury.
Atwood is accused of punching a Boston police officer in the face, prompting that officer to be taken to a local hospital for treatment. According to the incident report, the officer is likely in need of reconstructive surgery for a broken nose.
Three other BPD officers were also injured, with one also being taken to the hospital for treatment on an injury considered not to be life-threatening.
Defense attorney Peter A. O’Karma requested that Stanton set Atwood’s bail at $500, but the judge sided with the prosecution’s $10,000 figure.
“He … obviously has a significant number of members of the community supporting him,” O’Karma said, while pointing at Atwood’s supporters. “He has a significant amount of ties to the community, has zero (criminal) record.”
The other five protesters arraigned on Wednesday faced lesser bail. The judge issued $1,000 bail for Owen Woodcock, 26, and Amun Prophet, 25, of Boston. It was cited in court that both have previous criminal records, including charges that have been dismissed.
Woodcock was one of three people arrested at the Boston Pride parade in June 2024 in connection with an incident that involved one suspect allegedly throwing a full water bottle at a city officer.
Police charged Woodcock with disorderly conduct. Cops told Woodcock that he was under arrest and instructed him to free his arms. He reportedly ignored officers’ demands, so they physically removed him from the group, the Herald reported at the time.
Prophet was one of 118 Emerson College students arrested during a standoff between classmates and police in April 2024, when BPD removed a pro-Palestine encampment in Boylston Place Alley.
Prophet pleaded not guilty to the charge, which was later dismissed in exchange for community service.
During Wednesday’s court session, Stanton ordered Prahlad Iyengar, 25, of Boston, Laith Hintzman, 19, of Boston, and Benjamin Andre Choucroun, 20, of Medford, to pay $500 bail.
MIT suspended Iyengar from campus last fall until January 2026 for publishing a pro-Palestine essay in Written Revolution, a multidisciplinary student magazine about the pro-Palestinian movement, according to reports.
In the essay, Iyengar, a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, included imagery and language that “could be interpreted as a call for more violent or destructive forms of protest at MIT,” it was reported last December.
Choucroun, a junior at Tufts, is listed as an “executive editorial editor” for the campus newspaper, Tufts Daily. His recent columns are headlined, “The dangers of ignoring Ukraine’s neo-Nazis,” “Antisemitism broken down: Weaponization of the label ‘antisemitism hurts Jews and Palestinians,” and “The Atlanta Police are attacking democracy. It’s time to fight back.”
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