Police break up pro-Palestinian camp at MIT

PPolice cleared a pro-Palestinian tent camp at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and cleared protesters from the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia early Friday, hours after police tear gassed protesters and dismantled a camp at the University of Arizona.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a video showed police officers roaming through the MIT camp. Around 4 a.m., police arrived in riot gear, surrounded the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave. Ten remaining students were arrested, the university’s president said. A crowd outside the camp began to gather and chant pro-Palestinian slogans, but was dispersed by 6 a.m

At the University of Arizona in Tucson, campus police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters late Thursday before dismantling an encampment of wooden and plastic barriers on campus. In a statement, the University of Arizona said it made the decision because the camp violated school policy.

“After 5 p.m., a structure made of wooden pallets and other debris was constructed on the campus premises in violation of guidelines,” the school said in a statement. “University officials issued warnings to disperse and disperse the camp. The warnings were ignored.”

The school also said police vehicles were spiked and rocks and water bottles were thrown at officers and university staff.

In Philadelphia, police early Friday arrested people who had been at a camp at the University of Pennsylvania for more than two weeks. Officers moved in after warning protesters to leave the campus or face arrest.

Tensions have escalated with clashes with protesters on college campuses across the United States and Europe. Some colleges immediately cracked down, while others tolerated the demonstrations. Some have begun to lose patience and call the police because of concerns about disruption to campus life and safety.

The protest movement began almost three weeks ago at Columbia University in New York City. Since then, it has swept across university campuses across the country, with protesters generally trying to draw attention to deaths in the Israel-Hamas war or calling on their schools to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support its war efforts. More than 2,500 people were arrested.

The move at MIT comes several days after police first attempted to clear the encampment, only to see protesters storm past barriers and the encampment, which includes about a dozen tents in the heart of the Cambridge campus, rebuilt.

Before the camp was disbanded, MIT had begun suspending dozens of students working at the camp earlier in the week, meaning they could not participate in academic activities or commencement classes.

The protesters insisted the move would not stop them from demanding MIT end all ties with the Israeli military. The camp had been closed for at least weeks, particularly angering Jewish students who held counter-protests near the camp.

“This will only make us stronger. “You can’t arrest the movement,” said Quinn Perian, an MIT student and organizer of the MIT Jews for Ceasefire movement. “We will continue and will not relent until MIT agrees to cut ties with the Israeli military. “MIT would rather arrest and suspend some students than end their complicity in the Gaza genocide.”

The camp had been operating for at least two weeks, particularly angering Jewish students who had been holding counter-protests nearby. They covered a lawn with small Israeli flags and hung posters depicting some of the people kidnapped by the militants in the attack that sparked the war in Gaza.

MIT President Sally Kornbluth, who has pushed for a balance between acknowledgment of the suffering in Gaza and concern for the “security of our community,” warned Monday that the camp would be removed.

In a letter acknowledging Friday’s arrests, she wrote that her job is to “ensure that the campus is physically safe and functional for everyone … and that everyone feels free to express their opinions.” The camp, she wrote, “made it increasingly impossible to fulfill all of these obligations.”