BOSTON (WHDH) - Pro-Palestinian protesters in the Boston area stood firm Friday, refusing to clear their encampments as officials at Harvard University placed barriers on part of their campus and as MIT in Cambridge prepared for a pair of competing rallies on opposite sides of Massachusetts Avenue.
The Boston Party of Socialism and Liberation organized a rally in support of the pro-Palestinian protestors, while the Israeli American Council set up a Jewish student support rally.
At MIT, more than a dozen tents remained pitched on the university’s campus, where temporary fencing was erected surrounding the demonstration area. Israel supporters have adorned that temporary fencing with signs, Israeli flags, and pictures of hostages.
“We’re just here to support the students,” said Jack Donnelly of the Israeli American Council. “Our students have had to deal with so much anti-Semitism, so much hate over the more than, now, 200 days, and really we’ve heard them. We’ve seen it, and we don’t want to allow it. It’s not just anti-Jewish, it’s not just anti-Israel, it’s anti-American.”
At Harvard the encampment is located in Harvard Yard, a space that includes many first year residences. The school has since placed barriers in the yard to help as non-protesting students move out of their dormitories.
“In conjunction with First Year move out, the University has installed temporary barriers throughout Harvard Yard in positions of heavy traffic,” Harvard confirmed in a statement. “For the safety of pedestrians, egress passageways will remain clear at all times.”
Congressman Jake Auchincloss visited Harvard Thursday to speak with Jewish and Israeli students, who he said feel unheard and alone.
“I have written to Harvard requesting an action plan for how they’re going to improve their antisemitism culture over the next several weeks,” Auchincloss said. “People have the right to say, to protest, to disagree — universities also have the obligation to enforce and uphold a suitable learning environment for all students.”
School leaders at Tufts, which issued a no trespass order to protesters, said students will face consequences in they don’t move out soon.
The university said the encampment is set up where commencement ceremonies are set to take place, and demonstrators have rejected a suggestion that they move to a different location, with some students now threatening to boycott commencement exercises if police are called in and the encampments are removed.
An open letter to Tufts President Sunil Kumar signed by more than 200 students says in part: “Any commencement ‘celebration’ built on violently sweeping, arresting, or otherwise harassing the Gaza solidarity encampment is not a celebration in which we would partake”.
Construction workers could be seen setting up for upcoming commencement events on campus Thursday afternoon. The administration has threatened to ticket protesters for trespassing and warned there would be consequences for those who stay.
“They do have to recognize that they don’t set the rules for the campus and that, if it comes to it, those rules have to be enforced, and we all know what that means,” Tufts faculty member Michael Glennon said.
Tufts freshman Breoghan Conchan, who was not involved in the protest, said the university should work around the protesters.
“I understand that there’s events that are supposed to happen there, but there’s another field right there. So, I don’t really understand what the problem is,” Conchan said.
At Emerson, where over 100 were arrested last week after an encampment was cleared by police, students put sticky notes of their demands on the windows of an administration building. The faculty at Emerson is expected to hold a vote of no confidence in the college president on Monday.
Governor Maura Healey said she supports the right to peaceful protest, but there are limits.
“I’ll continue to support universities and their efforts to ensure that students are safe on campus, and that campus operations are able to continue unimpeded,” Healey said.
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