As security gears up for tonight’s Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, Massachusetts State Police have stepped up security — and taken to photographing and sharing pictures of peaceful protesters decrying government surveillance.

A few of the tweets sent from the State Police’s official Twitter account:

One of the protestors that arrived at the #Esplanade, speaking to Troopers. pic.twitter.com/flwz93tBtl — MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) July 4, 2013

Trooper speaking to a #protestor that arrived at the #Esplanade. pic.twitter.com/3uIycVyg2G — MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) July 4, 2013

Trooper observing the protestors that arrived at the #Esplanade. They left #peacefully. pic.twitter.com/ouiZfJWs66 — MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) July 4, 2013

The protests, which began this morning, were in response to recent revelations about domestic monitoring by the National Security Agency as well as proposed state legislation that would expand monitoring abilities of local and state police. One of the protest’s organizers, Alex Marthews, explained the motivations in a Hive guest post.