BOSTON — A Boston judge stunned the city’s activist circles Thursday, handing down $10,000 cash bail to multiple defendants from this week’s violent pro-Palestine protest — a rare show of firmness from a local court system often accused of going soft on street agitators.

In a packed courtroom, Judge James Stanton ordered each of the protesters arraigned Thursday to be held on $10,000 bail and barred from Boston Common and the Public Garden. The decision drew gasps from the gallery and prompted visible outrage from supporters, some of whom cursed at reporters and covered their faces with keffiyehs as defendants were led away in handcuffs.

The group — mostly college-aged demonstrators accused of turning a downtown protest into a riot — appeared polished and subdued compared to the chaos of Tuesday night. Dressed in button-downs and slacks, the same young activists who clashed with police just two days earlier now stood quietly beside defense attorneys as the clerk read their charges: disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and disturbing the peace.

Prosecutors said the defendants were part of a crowd that blocked traffic, surrounded police cruisers, and injured four officers, one of whom suffered a broken nose.

Thursday’s proceedings capped a dramatic two-day span of arraignments that saw bail rise sharply from the initial $500–$1,000 range to $10,000 flat — a move some observers see as a long-overdue sign that Boston’s courts are taking public disorder seriously.

Several of the defendants are reportedly enrolled at local universities. School officials have not commented, but disciplinary reviews are expected.

Outside the courthouse, supporters held signs and chanted as court officers ushered vans carrying the defendants out of the loading bay. For a city used to seeing protesters walk free within hours, Thursday’s bail rulings marked a new tone — and a reminder that even in Boston, defiance has a price.