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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:
 def protect(self, developers_can_push=False, developers_can_merge=False, **kwargs):
 """Protect the branch. Args: developers_can_push (bool):
 Set to True if developers are allowed to push to the branch developers_can_merge (bool):
 Set to True if developers are allowed to merge to the branch **kwargs: Extra options to send to the server (e.g. sudo) Raises: GitlabAuthenticationError: If authentication is not correct GitlabProtectError: If the branch could not be protected """

        id = self.get_id().replace('/', '%2F')
        path = '%s/%s/protect' % (self.manager.path, id)
        post_data = {'developers_can_push': developers_can_push,
                     'developers_can_merge': developers_can_merge}
        self.manager.gitlab.http_put(path, post_data=post_data, **kwargs)
        self._attrs['protected'] = True