Police in riot gear cleared out pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT overnight. Here’s how it unfolded.

7:30 a.m. — MIT President Sally Kornbluth posted a statement about the clearing of the encampment at 7:30 a.m. Friday, which she described as an “unprecedented situation for our community.”

”At my direction, very early this morning, the encampment on Kresge lawn was cleared. The individuals present in the encampment at the time were given four separate warnings, in person, that they should depart or face arrest,” she 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 offered her explanation for moving to remove the encampment: ”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.”

7:16 a.m. — MIT police did not immediately return e-mail and a phone call from the Globe asking for information on arrests.

7:05 a.m. — Erica James, MIT professor of Medical Anthropology and Urban Studies and adviser to the MIT Alliance of Concerned Faculty, arrived at the scene just before 5 a.m., collecting students’ signs from the outskirts of the encampment while police and facilities dismantled the camp.

”Seeing that the camp was being dismantled and destroyed, I wanted to preserve some of the art,” she said. “Regardless of what your opinion is on the issue, it was a historic event.”

The alliance had supported the student demonstrators for weeks, and acted as a liaison between protesters and the MIT administration.

”I understand there are a lot of different pressures that the administration is facing,” she said of the police action to clear the encampment. “I wish that it had been possible for there to have been a little more time to see if mediation could have worked.”

6:56 a.m. — Cambridge police were among the officers on the MIT campus when the encampment was broken up early Friday, Cambridge police spokesman Robert Goulston wrote in an e–mail.

”CPD was one of the agencies that supported MIT PD this morning on their property. We, specifically, did not take anyone into custody,” he wrote. “The arrests were handled by MIT Police. I can confirm nobody was hurt.”

6:20 a.m. — A Globe reporter could see at least two dozen State Police still inside the Kresge Auditorium next the camp, watching it being dismantled. Some appeared to be sitting on the floor of the auditorium with packs and bundles of riot gear next to them.

All the Palestinian and Israeli flags have been taken down but police left a lone American flag standing next to the Kresge Auditorium.

A facilities worker plucked out hundreds of tiny Israeli flags that counter protesters stuck into the ground days before. He left the American flags standing, scattered in smaller numbers throughout the lawn.

Requests for comment from MIT officials and Massachusetts State Police were not immediately returned.

6:09 a.m. — By 6 a.m., facilities workers were full steam ahead in clearing the encampment of all tents, tarps, signs and flags. An “MIT Recycles” truck parked on the side by Kresge Auditorium, where workers loaded supplies.

Camping mats, clothing, wooden pallets, buckets, cookware — everything was tossed into the garbage truck as a phalanx of police officers watched.

5:53 a.m. — A state police officer approached a line of officers guarding the area in front of the Stratton Student Center. “We’re good to go,” he said, and the officers followed him off campus.

5:43 a.m. — By about 5:30 a.m. MIT’s campus was quiet again. A group of protesters on the balcony of the Stratton Student Center had left, and another group of about 20 that protested near Massachusetts Avenue had marched away.

By the time police entered the encampment this morning, very few students were remaining in it, only about 10. At its peak, the encampment had teemed with roughly 100 people.

“Shame on them for taking down a peaceful protest,” said one student early Friday morning who asked not to identified by name. “But, you’ll also notice that we didn’t have that many people in there.”

5:27 a.m. — At sunrise, protesters that had been standing on the stairs to MIT’s Stratton Student Center moved to a balcony. There, they faced off with a line of two dozen police.

Protesters chanted, “Forty thousand people dead, you’re arresting us instead!” in reference to people killed by the Israeli military actions in the war in Gaza. (Palestinian authorities put the latest death toll at 34,000 people.)

At the site of the MIT encampment, police continued to clear tents and supplies.

Another group of protesters at Massachusetts Avenue continued to chant: “They’re here to clear the camp, but this is not the end.”

5:15 a.m. — The encampment is cleared, but State Police continued combing through the site.

Groups of protesters on MIT’s Stratton stairs and near Massachusetts Avenue are still present. The groups are separated by about 150 feet, and on Mass. Ave., protesters continue to echo chants coming from a leader with a megaphone standing in the center of a crowd.

“MIT you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide!” they chanted.

At the Stratton stairs, police closed in, but MIT Deputy Chief Steven Demarco told them they would be allowed onto the sidewalk when the encampment clearing was finished.

4:56 a.m. — Even after the encampment had been dismantled, groups and protesters continued chanting, “Free, free, free, Palestine.” Palestinian, American, and Israeli flags still swayed through the wind at the site.

Just before 4:50 a.m., a group of ten protesters retreated from MIT’s Stratton Student Center stairs and walked up to the balcony. The MIT Deputy Chief Steven Demarco told them they would be arrested if they stayed where they were. The group decided to walk up the center’s stairs to an outdoor balcony, where they continued to cheer.

4:50 a.m. — A video of the encampment at MIT shows State Police in helmets and riot gear clearing out the protest site while other officers stood by. MIT police stood outside the Stratton Student Center, monitoring the walkway and the continued chanting coming from protesters on Mass. Ave.

Less than 30 protesters appeared to be detained.

4:30 a.m. — About 20 police officers moved through the pro-Palestinian encampment, tearing down tents and arresting protesters, as 50 others stood behind in front of the Kresge Auditorium.

Protesters inside the encampment stood, with their arms linked, at the entrance of the camp, across from the Stratton Student Center. Some chanted, “disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest.”

Protesters did not put up a fight, officers were able to take them into custody without struggle, and by 4:30 a.m. all the protesters within the encampment had been taken into custody.

4:20 a.m. — Police entered the pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT. About a dozen police officers initially entered with a few dozen more waiting outside the fence on the sidelines.

4 a.m. — A group of about 100 officers arrived at MIT’s Kresge Oval, where an encampment site has stood for close to three weeks. Protesters received a 15-minute warning before officers said they would enter the encampment.

Talia Lissauer can be reached at talia.lissauer@globe.com. Follow her on Instgram @_ttphotos. Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers. Alexa Coultoff can be reached at alexa.coultoff@globe.com. Follow her @alexacoultoff. Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin. Chris Serres can be reached at chris.serres@globe.com. Follow him @ChrisSerres. John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.