This paper examines a variety of roles performed by Cretan refugees in mass protests that enveloped the Ottoman Empire between 1908 and 1911, a movement inspired by a multi-state political crisis over the status of Crete. I argue that Cretan Muslim refugees became the driving force of this empire-wide grassroots movement, which comprised scores of popular rallies and an economic boycott of Greece. With close attention to the senses of sight and hearing in the Ottoman protest-scape, my paper seeks to explore a lesser-known displaced community in the late empire through the lens of sensory history. Overall, I propose a refugee/émigré-centered perspective to contribute to the emancipation of the history of displaced people from an emphasis on resettlement and humanitarianism. Thus, I seek to show not how the state helped Cretan refugees, but rather how an émigré community helped build a mass movement of popular protest during the empire’s final years. By underscoring distinct yet complementary roles played by Cretan Muslims of diverse social classes, I seek to disaggregate around an eighty thousand strong refugee/émigré community in terms of its involvement in the protest movement. I do this by juxtaposing the activities of a tight-knit community of Cretan intellectuals with that of Cretan boycotters and protestors who left a legacy not through printed words but deeds in the streets.