Pilate was willing to let Jesus go free. Why did the crowd object?

It was clear that the bloodthirsty crowd would be satisfied with nothing less than the destruction of Jesus. It mattered nothing to them that no legitimate charges had been brought against Him. They cared little about truth or justice. They wanted a crucifixion. Many in the crowd were blindly following the lead of the Sanhedrin, but there were undoubtedly many others who hated Jesus for all the same reasons people today hate Him: His teaching confronted their wicked life-styles; His demands were too hard; the truth He taught was too narrow for their tastes. The real issue, in every case, was that “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).