在校园里呆了近三周后，麻省理工学院的亲巴勒斯坦学生营地以逮捕告终
【中美创新时报2024 年 5 月 11 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周五晚上，麻省理工学院的骚乱仍在继续，大约 12 小时前，警方拆除了一个亲巴勒斯坦营地并逮捕了 10 人，当时数百名学生游行到校长莎莉·科恩布鲁斯 (Sally Kornbluth) 的家中。他们在那里高呼：“莎莉，莎莉，你无法隐藏，放弃指控，切断联系。”《波士顿环球报》记者Jason Laughlin、Alexa Coultoff、Lila Hempel-Edgers、Chris Serres 和 Ava Berger 对此作了下述报道。
前往校长官邸的游行结束了麻省理工学院动荡的一天，学生们在大学校园里加入了一场全国性运动，要求他们的大学从支持以色列对抗哈马斯战争的公司撤资。
周五黎明后不久，警方将麻省理工学院的一个亲巴勒斯坦学生营地变成了一堆乱七八糟的抗议标语和倒塌的帐篷，这是在校园紧张几天以及管理人员反复发出警告之后进行的连夜清扫。
凌晨 4 点左右，当戴着头盔、穿着防暴装备的警察聚集在一起时，大多数学生已经放弃了马萨诸塞大道附近一片大草坪上的营地，等待警方的行动。在最近一次对全国各地高校抗议营地的镇压中，有十人被捕。
几个小时后，科恩布鲁斯发表了一份关于她拆除营地的决定的声明，她说这代表了“我们社区前所未有的情况”。
科恩布鲁斯写道：“当时在营地的人收到了四次单独的警告，要求他们离开，否则将面临逮捕。” “剩下的 10 个人没有拒捕，并被麻省理工学院警察和平地护送出营地，并带离校园接受预审。”
科恩布鲁斯表示，营地吸引了与麻省理工学院无关的抗议者，引发了人们对校园安全的担忧。
“作为校长，我的责任是对整个社区：确保校园的人身安全和每个人的正常运转，每个人都可以使用我们的共享空间和资源，每个人都可以自由地表达自己的观点并开展工作，他们来这里是为了做事，”她写道。“正如你将看到的，营地的存在在很多方面使得履行所有这些义务变得越来越不可能。”
营地的一名组织者表示，抗议者已做好等待警察到来的准备。
“他们说这令人印象深刻，但之所以令人印象深刻，是因为我们计划如此，”大二学生、犹太人停火组织成员奎因·佩里安 (Quinn Perian) 说。 “我们知道他们会来。”
据国家律师协会的杰弗里·M·福尔 (Jeffrey M. Feuer) 称，在数十名支持者的注视下，被捕的抗议者于周五在剑桥地方法院出庭，其中大多数人面临非法侵入的指控。他说，所有被捕者都是学生。
米德尔塞克斯郡助理地方检察官安娜·泰隆 (Anna Taillon) 表示，在简短的诉讼过程中，抗议者以小组形式出现，并被告知，如果他们遵守大学从学校收到的有关其在校园行为的任何命令，则指控将在 7 月 10 日之前被驳回。
学生们被释放，并在法庭外见到了支持者，他们受到了拥抱和微笑。
费尔在接受采访时表示，学生们在被关押期间都戴着脚镣。他说，有几个人赤着脚。其中两名学生的眼镜在被捕时被没收，直到费尔要求后才被送回法庭。
“这一切都是为了非法侵入罪，”他说。
警方的清扫行动结束了抗议者对校园绿地近三周的占领，抗议者谴责以色列对加沙的战争，表达了对巴勒斯坦人民的声援，并呼吁麻省理工学院切断与以色列军方的研究联系。
大约一个月前，哥伦比亚大学逮捕了支持巴勒斯坦的抗议者，麻省理工学院的抗议活动与全国校园的抗议活动一样，势头强劲。
周一，警方试图设置路障并阻止学生进入麻省理工学院的营地，但失败了。然后，麻省理工学院切断了营地的电源，周三，该大学开始停课支持巴勒斯坦的学生抗议者。
随着周四和周五的逮捕，麻省理工学院加入了艾默生学院和东北大学的行列，成为波士顿地区第三所警察强行将抗议者赶出营地的大学。
一位拒绝透露姓氏的麻省理工学院校友凯（Kay）表示，她于凌晨 4 点到达营地，记录警方的活动。当她讲述看到警察拆毁帐篷时，她用头巾（一种传统的中东围巾）哭泣，遮住了大部分脸。
“看着（警察）摧毁整个社区是非常困难的——这一切都是因为麻省理工学院不会撤资，”凯说。“为什么要威胁那些不反抗的学生呢？”
来自剑桥大学、麻省理工学院和州警察的警官于午夜抵达校园，并于凌晨 4 点在椭圆形体育场集合。几分钟后，警方告诉学生，他们有 15 分钟的时间离开，然后开始拆除现场。
凌晨 4 点 20 分左右，大约 100 名警察包围了营地，封锁了斯特拉顿学生中心和克雷斯吉礼堂附近地区的每个入口，附近的抗议者高呼“加沙没有食物和水。停止杀戮，停止屠杀。”
凌晨 4 点 25 分，警察开始拆除帐篷并逮捕抗议者。大约 20 名警察穿过营地，另有 50 名警察站在克雷斯吉礼堂前。州警察提供协助，但逮捕行动由麻省理工学院官员实施。
扫荡发生得很快，没有遇到任何抵抗。警察带着几名学生穿过礼堂旁边的停车场，那里有几辆大巴士和警车正在等候。
在接下来的一个小时里，在通往学生中心的台阶和街上的口号声中，警察拆除了帐篷、标牌和一片以色列国旗。
凌晨5点30分左右，校园再次安静下来。
当天晚些时候，在科恩布鲁斯家外的抗议活动中，一些麻省理工学院的警察守卫着前门和车道，而学生们则高呼：
“我们在这里向莎莉和其他政府人员传达一个非常明确的信息：立即撤销对学生和我们同事的指控！”
大约15分钟后，抗议者离开，并承诺：“我们会回来的。”
《波士顿环球报》记者 John R. Ellement 对本报告做出了贡献。
题图：麻省理工学院连夜清理后的空营地。DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF
附原英文报道：
After nearly three weeks on campus, MIT’s pro-Palestinian student encampment ends with arrests
By Jason Laughlin, Alexa Coultoff, Lila Hempel-Edgers, Chris Serres and Ava Berger Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent,Updated May 10, 2024
CAMBRIDGE — The unrest at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology continued Friday evening, some 12 hours after police dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment and arrested 10 people, when several hundred students marched to president Sally Kornbluth’s home.
There they chanted: “Sally, Sally you can’t hide, drop the charges cut the ties.”
The march to the president’s home capped a tumultuous day at MIT, where students have joined a national movement on college campuses to demand their universities divest from companies that support Israel in its war against Hamas.
Shortly after dawn Friday, police had reduced a pro-Palestinian student encampment at MIT to a jumbled pile of protest signs and collapsed tents, the overnight sweep following several tense days on campus and repeated warnings from administrators.
By the time officers in helmets and riot gear assembled around 4 a.m., most students had abandoned the encampment in a large lawn near Massachusetts Avenue in anticipation of the police action. Ten people were arrested in the latest crackdown on protest encampments at colleges and universities across the country.
A few hours later, Kornbluth posted a statement about her decision to dismantle the encampment, which she said represented an “unprecedented situation for our community.”
“The individuals present in the encampment at the time were given four separate warnings, in person, that they should depart or face arrest,” Kornbluth wrote. “The 10 who remained did not resist arrest and were peacefully escorted from the encampment by MIT police officers and taken off campus for booking.”
Kornbluth said the encampment had drawn protesters unaffiliated with MIT, raising concerns about campus safety.
”As president, my responsibility is to the whole community: to make sure that the campus is physically safe and functioning for everyone, that our shared spaces and resources are available for everyone, and that everyone feels free to express their views and do the work they came here to do,” she wrote. “As you will see, in numerous ways, the presence of the encampment increasingly made it impossible to meet all these obligations.”
An organizer of the encampment said protesters were prepared for police to arrive.
“They described this as underwhelming, but it’s underwhelming because we planned it to be that way,” said Quinn Perian, a sophomore and member of the group Jews for Ceasefire. “We knew they were going to come.”
With dozens of supporters looking on, the arrested protesters appeared Friday in Cambridge District Court, where most faced charges of trespassing, according to Jeffrey M. Feuer of the National Lawyers Guild. All of those arrested were students, he said.
During brief proceedings, the protesters appeared in small groups and were told that if they abide by any orders they receive from the university about their on-campus behavior, the charges will be dismissed by July 10, according to Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Anna Taillon.
The students were released from custody and met supporters outside the courtroom, where they were greeted with hugs and smiles.
In an interview, Feuer said the students were in leg irons while they were held in lockup. Several were barefoot, he said. Two of the students had their glasses taken away when they were arrested and only had them returned at the court after Feuer asked.
”All this for a trespassing charge,” he said.
The police sweep ended a nearly three-week occupation of a campus green by protesters who condemned Israeli’s war against Gaza, expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people, and called for MIT to cut research ties with the Israeli military.
MIT’s protests, like those on campuses nationwide, gained momentum after the arrests at Columbia University of pro-Palestinian protesters about a month ago.
On Monday, an attempt by police to barricade and prevent students from entering the MIT encampment failed. Then, MIT cut off power to the encampment, and on Wednesday, the university began suspending pro-Palestinian student protesters.
With arrests Thursday and Friday, MIT joined Emerson College and Northeastern University as the third Boston-area college where police forcibly removed protesters from encampments.
A woman embraced one of the supporters of the MIT students who were arrested on campus Friday morning. The students were awaiting arraignment at Cambridge District Court in Medford.
A woman embraced one of the supporters of the MIT students who were arrested on campus Friday morning. The students were awaiting arraignment at Cambridge District Court in Medford.JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE
An MIT alum named Kay who declined to provide her last name said she arrived at the camp at 4 a.m. to document the police activity. She wept through a keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern scarf, covering most of her face as she recounted watching officers tear down the tents.
“It’s very hard to watch [the police] destroy an entire community — all because MIT would not divest,” Kay said. “Why threaten students who aren’t resisting?”
Officers from Cambridge, MIT, and the State Police arrived on campus by midnight, and by 4 a.m. had assembled at the oval. A few minutes later, police told students they had 15 minutes to leave before they would begin to dismantle the site.
About 4:20 a.m., about 100 officers had encircled the encampment, blocking every entrance to the area near the Stratton Student Center and Kresge Auditorium as protesters nearby chanted, “Gaza has no food or water. Stop the killing, stop the slaughter.”
Officers began tearing down tents and arresting protesters at 4:25 a.m. About 20 officers moved through the encampment, while another 50 stood in front of the Kresge Auditorium. State Police assisted, but MIT officers made the arrests.
The sweep happened quickly and faced no resistance. Officers led a few students out through the parking lot beside the auditorium, where several large buses and police vans were waiting.
Over the next hour, police removed tents, signs, and a field of Israeli flags amid chants from the steps to the student center and from the street.
By about 5:30 a.m., the campus was quiet again.
Later in the day at the protest outside Kornbluth’s home, a number of MIT police officers guarded the front door and driveway while the students chanted:
“We are here with a very clear message for Sally and the rest of the administration: Drop the charges against students and our co-workers immediately!”
After about 15 minutes, the protesters left, promising: “We’ll be back.”
John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
