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31 Arrested For Blocking Street At DACA Protest In Harvard Square

More than two dozen people were arrested in Harvard Square Thursday as they protested the Trump administration's plans to end the DACA program. The protest was organized by a group of professors from local colleges and billed as "an act of non-violent civil disobedience." (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
More than two dozen people were arrested in Harvard Square Thursday as they protested the Trump administration's plans to end the DACA program. The protest was organized by a group of professors from local colleges and billed as "an act of non-violent civil disobedience." (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

More than two dozen people were arrested for blocking traffic in Harvard Square Thursday as they protested the Trump administration's plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The protest was organized by a group of professors from local colleges. They planned to block Massachusetts Avenue in an act of "peaceful civil disobedience" until they were removed by police.

Cambridge police said 31 people were arrested "as planned," for disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.

Organizers said they wanted to highlight the negative effects the end of DACA will have on their classrooms and communities.

Harvard instructor Paul Adler, who was not among those arrested, said it was a successful effort.

"We wanted to be here with faculty saying that teachers care about our students and the wider communities that they are part of," Adler said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that the Trump administration would end the program known as DACA, which granted protection from deportation to some people whose parents brought them into the country illegally as children.

There are about 8,000 DACA recipients in Massachusetts and about 800,000 across the country.

With reporting by WBUR's Steven Brown

This article was originally published on September 07, 2017.

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