Thousands gathered at the apex of the storied Powder House Square in Somerville on Wednesday in support of Rumeysa Ozturk, a 30-year-old Tufts graduate student and Fulbright scholar who was detained by federal agents in front of her Somerville home Tuesday.
Among the throngs attending was Mary Mangan, a docent who explained how the 1774 Massachusetts Powder Alarm set in motion the process of taking down a tyrant, “and we are about to do it again.”
The “emergency protest” for Ozturk, Mahmoud Khalil and others who have been swept up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was organized quickly by the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts and the Palestine Youth Movement. They were joined by a coalition of rights groups, including Safe Medford, Jewish Voice for Peace, SEIU 509 and the Somerville Ice Watch Network. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people rallied, according to a police crowd estimate.
In videos from Tuesday circulating online, Ozturk – on her way to break the Ramadan fast – is seen surrounded by plainclothes masked agents on a Somerville street. Seemingly taken by surprise and scared, Ozturk does not resist as she is handcuffed, saying only “okay” to the officers as they restrain her. But as her phone is taken away, she yells to the caller. Turkish media have reported that she was speaking to her mother when the federal agents approached.
Her attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, has not yet had a chance to speak with her. In a statement from Khanbabai read by Fatima Ahmed of the Muslim Justice League, it was announced that Ozturk has been moved to a detention center in Louisiana despite the orders of U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani that she remain in Massachusetts.
“Shame!” yelled members of the crowd.
“Rumeysa should be immediately brought back to Massachusetts, released and allowed to complete her Ph.D. program. Why she was transferred to Louisiana despite the court’s order is unfathomable,” Ahmed read out.
The crowd included fellow Tufts students such as senior biomedical engineering student Logan Gagnepain, who said, “We are going to have to fight this. Nobody supports taking innocent people from their families and communities.”
Holding a sign reading “Stop the March to Fascism, Free Rumeysa Ozturk” was Asli Memisoglu, a Tufts graduate from 1987, who was there with her classmate Lorraine Keir. Together, they reminisced about demonstrating against apartheid and antisemitism “without worrying about being abducted outside our home.”
“One thing I’ve always cherished,” said Memisoglu, who was born in Turkey, “was the sanctity of free speech, but that’s threatened now.”
Somerville mayor Katjana Ballantyne greeted protesters and said she came “to support people and let them know that Somerville has their back.”
Several people were willing to talk but feared giving out their names, including Kork – who gave just their first name – from Jewish Voice for Peace. “When I saw the video of the Ph.D. student being picked up by Ice, I saw the Gestapo picking up Jews during the Holocaust.”
Kork said that they, like Ozturk, had been doxxed in the past. According to the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts, “Rumeysa was likely targeted [by Ice] after being recently doxxed by Canary Mission,” referring to an organization that, according to its website, documents people and organizations that promote hatred of the United States, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond. The site had included Ozturk in a list of “carefully researched and sourced” anti-Israel activists. Canary Mission has profiled numerous professors, students, professionals and organizations whom it accuses of engaging in far-right or far-left antisemitic activities.
A young woman wearing a green hijab, who identified as a young professional but didn’t want to give her name, said she identified with Ozturk not because of her religion but because they were both Fulbright recipients. “Fulbright is a U.S. State Department program for citizen diplomacy,” she explained. Fulbright recipients, she said, are not only granted visas – they are invited guests. Detention as a penalty for writing an essay, is unconstitutional, she said.
Eric Haynes of Somerville was at the rally holding an American flag he had just purchased in the patio section at Lowes. “I’m seeing a slide into Fascism. I hate that Trump is being represented as a patriot. I want to reclaim the flag for what it actually stands – for liberty, freedom and democracy,” Haynes said.
The protest continued for about two hours, with crowds covering the entirety of the square’s park. Toward the edges, where the crowd thinned out, a woman holding a sign reading “Free Speech, Free Rumeysa” handed out chalk to those who wanted to write messages on the sidewalk. A man shouted out invitations to join another protest – set to be held at 4 p.m. Thursday – in Harvard Square.
A second Thursday protest was spoken of for 6 p.m. at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
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This is fascism on our neighborhood streets. I hear that ICE is picking up people in blue states and sending them immediately to places like Louisiana and Texas where the laws and courts will agree with these unconstitutional lack of due process governmental actions. The actions of Trump et al are already beyond belief. These actions are dystopian.
It was so good to see such a large crowd on very short notice to protest this terribly unjust arrest of a person who has done nothing wrong. Our country was founded on the idea of free speech for everybody- regardless of citizenship. With these anti-free speech arrests, Trump is striking the core principle of democracy.
I would have liked the article to include what the speakers said- see
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/27/rumeysa_ozturk_tufts_ice_abduction
I heard a speaker urging people to get to know their neighbors, so that if a similar arrest happens nearby, neighbors can support the person being arrested. I heard another call for people to join ICE Watch, to let people know where ICE is.
I hope all the people who attended the protest call their local, state, and national legislators to object to ICE arrests and deportations with no due process, and ask them both protest and provide support to the arrested persons. Each of us needs to think what we can do.