Several detained as protestors block parking garage at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Police detained several people Thursday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after demonstrators blocked a parking garage in their ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war.
Tensions have ratcheted up in standoffs with protesters of the Israel-Hamas war on campuses across the United States and increasingly in Europe.
In Boston, the U.S. city most identified with higher education, students have set up encampments on at least five campuses, including MIT, Northeastern University and Harvard University.
At MIT, protesters have been asking administrators to end all research contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which they estimate total $11 million since 2015. On Thursday, the school issued an alert just before 2 p.m. saying protesters were blocking the entrance to a campus parking garage and spilling onto a nearby street.
About two hours later, authorities split protesters up and pushed them away from the garage. At least three people were detained. Protesters walked away continuing to chant “free Palestine” after the three were detained and police pushed them back. The crowd dispersed and the garage was reopened by 5 p.m., the school said.
Hannah Didehbani, an MIT student and one of the leaders of the protest, said the decision to block the entrance to the garage was part of a larger effort to bring attention to what she described as MIT’s complicity with the Israeli military. Didehbani said she has been issued a suspension and an eviction notice by the school but said MIT cannot suspend the larger student movement.
