BOULDER — Every week at the end of their walk, participants across the globe with Run for their Lives — a group calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas — sends a video to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

On Sunday, the families of the remaining hostages sent Run for their Lives Boulder a video message.

Moshe Lavin — whose brother-in-law Omri Miran is among the hostages still in captivity — told the crowd that the movement is about bringing their loved ones home.

“We will not be silent,” Lavin said. “We will not be afraid.”

Organizers had expected a throng of attendees a week after a man threw Molotov cocktails into the crowd last week, injuring 15 people and a dog.

And hundreds crammed onto the Pearl Street Mall on Sunday to show solidarity with those burned in last week’s attack.

The suspect, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, a 45-year-old Egyptian citizen who lived in the Colorado Springs area, is facing federal hate crimes, in addition to 118 state charges, for the attack.

The initial 911 call came last Sunday at about 1:30 p.m. during a Run for their Lives event, a global protest calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.

Run for their Lives organizers said the event was not a protest, but, rather, meant to remember the 55 hostages in captivity 611 days after the attack that sparked the war between Hamas and Israel.

“We’re just here to say this is not over yet,” said Maya Bajayo, the Run for their Lives Denver organizer.

“Don’t forget about them.”

Shany Klein was wracked with survivor’s guilt in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack. She said she started running to clear her head.

“Now, I’m running for my life to save myself,” she recalled thinking. “And it hit me — I can run for their lives, like Forrest Gump.”

That was 19 months ago in the Bay Area. Since then, more than 230 groups across the globe have joined her cause.

“Our group doesn’t exist to solve the Middle East crisis,” said Rachel Amaru, who started the Run for their Lives Boulder.

Amaru added: “It exists because not enough people across the globe are horrified.”

‘We want people to feel safe’

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise, large-scale attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip that killed roughly 1,200 people. Hamas took roughly 250 hostages in the attack.

The Gaza attack near a music festival triggered a full-scale war, with Israel launching airstrikes and a ground invasion aimed at dismantling Hamas. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

Several of last week’s victims have been attending the protest in Boulder since the Oct. 7 attack in Gaza, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor and her daughter.

According to organizers, Sunday’s protest coincided with the annual Boulder Jewish Festival, one of the longest-running cultural events in the country.

Given last week’s attack on the Pearl Street Mall — in which Soliman is said to have yelled “Free Palestine” — organizers expect beefed-up security.

Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said that “the all-hands-on deck” response included more than two dozen officers across three county, state and local departments.

Throughout the event, SWAT officers surveilled the crowd, while snipers watched overhead from a rooftop.

“We want people to feel safe,” Redfearn said.

While confident in the show of force, Redfearn also said he wouldn’t be letting his guard down until the last participant was home safe.

“I won’t rest easy until it’s over,” Redfearn said.

Jonathan Lev, executive director of the Boulder Jewish Community Center, said in his remarks Sunday people would be creating a security fund for future walks.

‘Am I next?’

The attack in Boulder marks the latest casualties in a year already marked by record levels of antisemitism, according to the ADL.

Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. hit an all-time high in 2024, with the ADL documenting more than 9,300 cases, which represents a fourfold rise over the past five years and a ninefold surge over the last decade.

“When Jews are lit on fire simply for being Jewish, everyone should be asking, ‘Am I next?’” Susan Rona, executive director of the ADL’s Mountain States Region, told the crowd.

Over the past week, Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS) has offered free mental health resources for community members who are processing the Boulder attack. In its wake, more than 60 therapists have reached out to provide mental health services, said Linda Foster, president and CEO of JFS of Colorado.

“We are working together to make sure those who need different types of support receive those types of support,” said Foster, who said she knows several of last week’s victims.

Sunday’s Run for their Lives event overshadowed the annual Boulder Jewish Festival, which was jointly held on the Pearl Street Mall.

Among the various booths at the festival was “hostage square,” which showcased the names and photos of hostages still held captive in Gaza on empty chairs, visually illustrating their absence. The empty chair symbolism has popped up around the world since Oct. 7.

During Sunday’s event — which was part prayer, part a defiant celebration of joy as a form of resilience — participants linked arms and danced the horah, a traditional Jewish circle dance.

Miri Kornfeld, co-leader for Run for Their Lives Denver, noted the profound shift the Jewish Festival took on this year, balancing both celebration and healing following so close to Sunday’s attack.

“Having that juxtaposition of pain and joy, sadness and happiness, and that is the Jewish people,” said Kornfeld, who is also the director of Stand With us Colorado, an international nonprofit dedicated to fighting antisemitism.

“That’s our history.”