Pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested for blocking the garage at the MIT building

CAMBRIDGE – Several pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked the garage entrance to an MIT research building in Cambridge were arrested Thursday afternoon. Officers were seen forcibly removing some of the protesters from the area in front of the Stata Center on Vassar Street.

The demonstrators belonged to a group left their camp on the MIT campus. MIT police arrested “fewer than ten people,” the university said Thursday evening. The MIT Graduate Student Union told WBZ that nine of its members were arrested.

Cambridge police assisted MIT police and helped keep the garage entrance clear.

“The MIT and Cambridge police brutally pushed people to get them out of the way. They physically attacked several undergraduates, several graduate students and undergraduates,” said protester Daniel Shen.

The Stata Center is where protesters say drone research is being conducted that benefits the Israeli military. For two weeks, demonstrators have been demanding that the university cut off all research ties with Israel. This week there were several clashes with police following a largely peaceful protest.

“I think we are ready to fight back because that is what we owe to the people of Gaza, that is what we owe to the people of the world,” Shen said.

Students suspended after protests

Daniel Shen, a third-year graduate student, is one of several have now been suspendedalthough he says that this cause is greater.

“I think these are all decisions we made to come here and do what is morally right, so that MIT does not become complicit with the Israeli military,” Shen said.

Senior Hannah Didehbani says she would rather face a suspension than attend her graduation ceremony.

“I am not afraid because I know that we are fighting for a just cause. We are fighting to end a genocide and MIT’s complicity in it,” Didehbani said.

On Monday, MIT ordered a camp on campus to be evacuated after about three weeks. Protesters stormed the fence surrounding them to retake their tents.

The students who were suspended said the university gave them until May 15 to move out of their dorms.

The heavy police presence and arrests have not deterred protesters, who say they are in it for the long haul until the university negotiates with them.

Student says there is “anarchy” on campus

“The protesters just do whatever they want and then there are virtually no consequences,” said Marilyn Meyers, a Jewish student at MIT.

Meyers will graduate in a few weeks. She says these protests are impacting her safety, her ability to do schoolwork and her trust in MIT’s leadership to get things under control.

“I don’t think they were strong enough,” Meyers said. “I think they continue to give in to the protesters and give them more and more leeway. They allowed the protesters to plunge our campus into anarchy.”