Police dismantled encampments of pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the campuses of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, two of the most prestigious universities in the United States, early Friday and made several arrests, after days of tension.
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“At my request, very early this morning, the encampment on Kresge Lawn was dismantled. “Individuals present in the encampment at the time had been warned four times, in person, that they should leave or prepare for the possibility of arrest,” Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute, wrote in a statement. of Technology, near Boston.
“The 10 who remained did not resist when they were arrested and were calmly evacuated from the camp by MIT police officers and then taken to undergo a procedure” by the police, he said. she added, referring to “insoluble tensions” which led to this “last resort” solution.
The student association MIT Coalition Against Apartheid denounced the police operation on campus.
“MIT arrested students (…) as early as 4 a.m. this morning. They swept the entire camp,” she said on her Instagram account.
To MIT officials, “we say: you cannot suspend the movement. We will come back,” adds this association not affiliated with the establishment.
A similar encampment on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (northeast) was also dismantled by police before dawn on Friday, according to local media.
Chain of demonstrators
Dozens of police officers in riot gear descended on the “UPenn” encampment and gave those present two minutes to leave or they would be arrested, according to NBC10.
A chain of around thirty demonstrators, arm in arm around a statue of Benjamin Franklin, was then broken up by the police.
American campuses have been shaken for several weeks by demonstrations against the war waged by Israel in Gaza. The conflict was sparked in October by an attack in Israel by Palestinian Hamas.
Across the United States, law enforcement officers were called upon by university administrations to dismantle encampments and dislodge demonstrators by force.
President Joe Biden said last week that “order must prevail” on campuses, while saying there was no question of “silencing people.” He pledged Tuesday to combat the “fearsome” progression of anti-Semitism.
In December, the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and UPenn were pilloried during a hearing in the US Congress, alongside the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), all accused for not doing enough against anti-Semitism on their campuses.
The hearing, which caused a stir in the United States, led a few days later to the resignation of Elizabeth Magill, the president of UPenn.
