Man Sentenced to Year of Probation After Axe Threat at Harvard Square Protest

A man charged with assault was sentenced to probation Tuesday after police said he threatened protesters with an axe at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Harvard Square last August.

Matthew C. Freeman, 40, of Billerica, Mass., will be required to undergo a mental health evaluation and participate in a class on Islam, but will not serve jail time. His probation also bans him from possessing firearms or other dangerous weapons.

Freeman was arraigned in Cambridge District Court in September, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to court documents. He was initially set to face a jury trial, but later pleaded guilty to all three charges, according to the documents.

According to a police report, Freeman drove his car toward a crowd of nearly 200 protesters on Massachusetts Avenue near the center of Harvard Square, stopped beside two protesters, opened his car door, and later threatened to kill the protesters with an axe.

A video posted by the Palestinian Youth Movement's Boston chapter on Instagram shortly after the protest shows Freeman calling the protesters “Nazis” and shouting homophobic slurs from inside his vehicle.

Cambridge police said at the time that officers did not personally see an axe and relied on witness statements. The police report named one victim, Fawaz Abusharkh.

In a victim impact statement, Abusharkh wrote that Freeman hit him with a car door and threatened to kill him.

“I have been involved in protests for decades, but I have never been threatened by someone with an axe,” Abusharkh wrote. “It was shocking and surreal.”

Freeman was arraigned in Cambridge District Court in September, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to court documents. He was initially set to face a jury trial, but later pleaded guilty to all three charges, according to the documents.

James M. Peterson, Freeman’s lawyer, declined to comment on the sentencing.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil advocacy organization that represented Abusharkh, said that the sentence was too lenient.

“Given the level of threatened violence, we advocated for the more serious punishment sought by the Middlesex District Attorney, a suspended sentence with the possibility of jail time,” CAIR legal director Barbra J. Dougan wrote in a Friday press release, adding that the group was still “pleased that this matter has been resolved.”

Abusharkh wrote in the press release that he was disappointed in the sentence, calling it “a slap on the wrist.”

The Middlesex District Attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Freeman’s probation sentence began Tuesday.

Correction: January 12, 2026

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Freeman was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and a civil rights violation. In fact, Freeman was also charged with assault on a person over the age of 60.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Freeman accepted a plea agreement. In fact, Freeman pleaded guilty to all charges without an agreement with prosecutors.

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at [email protected].