Hundreds of counterprotesters overwhelm ‘boycott ride’ targeting Jewish-owned Philadelphia businesses
By Danny Freeman, Eduardo Cuevas, Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
Philadelphia (CNN) — Massive crowds of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and holding signs condemning antisemitism responded Sunday morning to a bicycle “boycott ride” targeting Philadelphia businesses that organizers said were owned by supporters of Israel.
State and local leaders widely condemned the bikers’ demonstration, saying it was targeting six Jewish-owned businesses. The cyclists on Sunday were met by what appeared to be hundreds of people protesting the ride, sparking some verbal confrontations in Pennsylvania’s largest city.
“Show your faces!” one counterprotester shouted as he flipped off a group of bikers in Rittenhouse Square in the heart of Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood. Many of the bikers were wearing disposable face masks, helmets and sunglasses. Several bikers held Palestinian flags and were draped in keffiyehs.
The businesses that the group was boycotting are scattered around the neighborhood, some separated by several blocks.
Michael Balaban, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, decried the scene.
“When people come to attack the Jewish community, we want to meet those attacks tenfold, a hundredfold with people,” Balaban told CNN affiliate WPVI. “Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love and we want to make sure it stays that way and get the haters out of here….Don’t protest us because we’re Jewish.”
On one side of the road on Walnut Street downtown, a woman quietly held a sign above her head reading: “HATE is not Brotherly LOVE.” A few dozen feet away on the same side, a man held one that said: “Money loving Zionists.”
The protest fell the day before the 88th anniversary of Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass.” Kristallnacht was a Nazi-organized riot in which synagogues were burned, Jewish-owned businesses and homes were vandalized, and Jews were assaulted, killed and imprisoned in concentration camps in Nazi Germany.
Citing the 1938 attacks against German Jews, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, DC, responded to the bike protest, saying “antisemites chose that anniversary to terrorize Philadelphia’s Jewish community.”
“This blatant act of Jew hatred needs to be universally condemned, and we applaud the many who have,” the museum said in a social media post on Sunday.
The protest was organized by Philly Bike On Your Left, a group describing itself as “anti-Zionist.”
The group has rejected the criticism, saying it was “grossly misrepresented” and is “firmly against racism and oppression of all forms, including fascism, antisemitism, islamophobia, and colonialism.”
“Ride around Rittenhouse with us as we show these zionist business owners that we see them for the disgusting humans they are,” the group said in its original October 30 Instagram post announcing the ride.
In some areas, the bikers were overwhelmed by the crowds, forcing some of the boycotters to lift their bikes over sidewalks and out of the procession. CNN witnessed police officers on their own bikes monitoring the tension, with some officers leading protesters away from the crowd.
The Philadelphia Police Department said three people were arrested, no property damage was reported and all demonstrators dispersed just after 1 p.m. ET.
Video from CNN affiliate WPVI shows a person yelling, “I’m 17 years old! I’m 17 years old,” as police approach him. The person said he was pushed against a wall and shouted, “You can’t arrest me for this,” as officers attempted to detain him. The teen was arrested for assaulting police, Philadelphia police said
Ahead of the protest, the nonprofit JewBelong put up more than a dozen billboards across the Philadelphia area, including one that read “Running over Jewish businesses isn’t a peace plan,” according to CNN affiliate WPVI.
The office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose home was set on fire last year during Passover, said last week the ride was “designed to intimidate and drive Jewish businesses out of our communities.” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said that while everyone has the right to protest peacefully, “singling out businesses because their owners are Jewish is unacceptable and has no place in our city.”
On Sunday afternoon, Shapiro thanked Philadelphia Police and Pennsylvania State Police in a social media post for protecting public safety.
Amid what the governor called “blatant antisemitic targeting of Jewish-owned restaurants” before the anniversary of Kristallnacht, he said, “the City of Brotherly Love showed up to support our neighborhood businesses and prove once again that hate has no place in our Commonwealth.”
The condemnations come amid what officials describe as a sustained rise in antisemitism since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the war in Gaza that followed.
Antisemitic incidents in the US remain far above pre-2023 levels, after hitting a record in 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Philadelphia recorded 106 antisemitic incidents in 2025, according to the group’s Philadelphia branch.
“Let us be clear: the reason we are calling for a boycott of these businesses is because of their support for Israel,” Philly Bike On Your Left said in a statement to CNN and posted on its Instagram Saturday.
Others say the condemnations are an attempt to silence dissent. The Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America said politicians including Shapiro and Parker had “joined a chorus of bad-faith and dangerous conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism.”
“Jewish businesses and shops belong in Philadelphia,” the group’s statement said. “Challenges to the violence of Zionist ideology do not dull this commitment to Jewish safety and belonging.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
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