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A 67-day-long protest of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill ended peacefully this morning at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student union.

The UWM administration notified the group of approximately 20 students that the study room they had been occupying non-stop since March 2 had to come to an end at midnight Friday.

But as that deadline approached some of the students balked and refused to budge.

"We had an agreement with them earlier in the week that they'd leave on their own at midnight Friday," said Tom Luljak, vice chancellor for university relations.

"Then late last night a group of folks who were there said they changed mind and said they decided they wanted to stay. We said, we have a cleaning crew scheduled to come in at 5 a.m."

Luljak said negotiations ensued and a deal was struck at about 2 a.m.

Then at 4 a.m., 20-year-old UWM student protester Jenna Pope said police entered the room and gently handcuffed the 10 or so remaining students and led them out of the room.

"We didn't resist," said Pope. "We all stood up and allowed them to cuff us and they escorted us out of the room."

Once in the hallway, Pope said, police took down their personal information and then sent them all home.

The episode ended more than two months of constant occupation of the room, during which students converted the study space into a makeshift apartment. The occupiers continued going to classes and some even maintained jobs, but they made sure somebody was always minding the protest, Pope said.

"There was always at least a few people in the room 24/7," said Pope. "We slept there, we had futons, we had a fridge . . . we made it like home."

Luljak said the administration wanted the students out of the study room now because exams are coming up.

"It was just time, with finals, to make space available for the purpose it was intended," he said.

Efforts Saturday morning to reach the UWM police for comment were unsuccessful.