Police clear MIT camp in Gaza, arrest 10 people

MIT and state police early Friday arrested 10 people protesting the university’s ties to Israel and evicted students from a camp that had been on campus since April 21.

“At my direction, the encampment on Kresge Lawn was evacuated very early this morning,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in an open letter. “Those present in the camp at the time received four separate personal warnings to leave or face arrest. The ten remaining individuals did not resist arrest and were peacefully escorted from the camp by MIT police officers and taken off campus for booking.”

School staff remove tables, tents and large signs in support of the Palestinian people from the lawn, along with dozens of Israeli flags in the grass near the camp.

“I have no illusions that today’s action will end the conflict here as the war continues to rage in the Middle East,” Kornbluth wrote. “But I had no choice but to eliminate such a high-risk hotspot in the middle of our campus.”

Protesters on campus continued to demand that MIT stop conducting research related to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Officials estimate that the war between Israel and Hamas, which began on October 7, has left at least 34,500 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis dead.

A student protester named Mohamed said the protest was peaceful and the university’s response was “embarrassing.”

“You had hundreds of officers in riot gear and state troopers all coming to a student camp that was peaceful the entire time they were here,” he said.

He said the students would continue to advocate for a ceasefire and for MIT to sever its research ties with Israeli defense.

“It is very clear that business at MIT cannot continue as usual,” he said. “No one really believes that college students justify having hundreds of officers in riot gear storm their campus at 4 a.m. in an administration-stage ambush.”

This is a developing story.