On July 2, hundreds of people took to the streets of Downtown and South Boston to protest the ICE concentration camps in which thousands of immigrants are currently being detained across the country. Eighteen lead organizers were arrested at the conclusion of the protest. The event was largely planned by Jewish leaders with Never Again Action, a campaign that is drawing parallels between the current ICE camps and the camps used by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Even the route of the rally held significance, starting at the New England Holocaust Memorial and ending in front of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, which also functions as an ICE detainment center.
Chants of “Never Again Para Nadie” echoed down the crowded streets, bustling with onlookers commuting home from work. In the words of the organizers themselves, this chant holds special significance for Jewish people who have been “taught to never let anything like the Holocaust happen again…. We mean that no one, no person or group, should experience the trauma of family separation, the violence of detention, the pain and deadliness of degradation and dehumanization, or genocide.”
As the demonstration moved towards the heavily guarded Sheriff’s Department, organizers leading the march quickly moved in front of the line of officers and sat down on the entrance steps. As the leaders joined the crowd in protest song, the police tied their hands and arrested them one-by-one. The organizers continued singing during the entirety of the arrests.
