Police began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus early morning, following a similar series of events at colleges nationwide.
Organizers said only about 10 people were inside the encampment, but a group of protesters were chanting outside it, The Associated Press reported.
According to the student paper, The Tech, a 15-minute notice was given to demonstrators to vacate the premises at 4:03 a.m. and the first arrest was made by 4:29 a.m.
Officers, some dressed in riot gear, began to disassemble the encampment. By 7 a.m., only a “small contingent of police officers remain on standby” on campus.
The operation comes several days after police first attempted to clear the MIT encampment, but protesters stormed past barriers and set up the area again.
Multiple MIT students had been arrested earlier and several were suspended, meaning they can no longer participate in school organizations or commencement at the end of the month.
“This is only going to make us stronger. They can’t arrest the movement,” Quinn Perian, an undergraduate MIT student and organizers for MIT Jews for Ceasefire, said. “We are going to continue and won’t back down until MIT agrees to cut ties with the Israeli military.”
The development mirrors what’s happening at colleges across the country. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have set up encampments on more than 400 campuses, calling on their universities to divest from Israeli companies or companies that supply weapons to Israel.
More than 2,000 arrests have been made so far as police and demonstrators clash on some campuses.
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