AMSTERDAM (AP) — German police on Tuesday broke up a protest by hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard at the Free University of Berlin earlier in the day. This action by authorities is the latest in a wave of protests that have roiled the campus. The United States spread throughout Europe.
Some demonstrators are calling for a severance of academic ties with Israel over the Gaza war.
In Berlin, demonstrators set up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around them. Most wore medical masks and keffiyeh scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as “Long live Palestine.”
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 7: Solidarity in the university courtyard known as the “Theaterhof” of the Free University of Berlin to protest against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, on May 7, 2024 in Berlin, Germany Police intervened against the students who set up camp. (Photo by: Halil Sagilkaya/Anadolu, via Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 7: Police intervene on students who set up camp at the Free University of Berlin to protest against Israel’s attack on Gaza in Berlin, Germany, on May 7, 2024. Students expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and organized demonstrations on campus. They set up a solidarity camp in tents in a university courtyard known as the ‘Theaterhof’. (Photo by: Halil Sagilkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 7: Police intervene and evict pro-Palestinian activists after activists attempt to set up a protest camp at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, on May 7, 2024. . Pro-Palestinian activists, mainly from the left, have been holding protests across the city for weeks, including a camp near the prime minister’s office and a sit-in at another university in the city. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)
Berlin police used loudspeakers to call on students to leave the campus. Scuffles broke out between police and protesters, and police were seen taking some students away. Police also used pepper spray against some demonstrators. School administrators said in a statement that after the protesters refused to engage in any dialogue, police were called in to clear the campus.
“Professions are not recognized on the FU Berlin campus,” said Rector Günter Ziegler. FU is an abbreviation for Free University. “We are open to academic dialogue, but not in this format.”
Administrators said some demonstrators tried to break into Free University’s rooms and lecture halls to occupy them. Organizers of the protest called on other students and professors to join in the action, the university said in a statement.
Organizers said the protest included students from various Berlin universities and other individuals.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner praised the school’s decision to call the police before the situation escalated.
Pro-Palestinian activists confront police on the campus of Free University of Berlin, Germany, May 7, 2024, to protest the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip sparked by the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas. We’re doing a demo. Activists set up a protest camp in tents in the university’s courtyard, local media reported. The university ordered an evacuation, called police and sealed off the area. (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP) (Photo by: TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Berlin, May 7, 2024: Protesters stand in front of police outside a camp during a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the Berlin Student Union group in the courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. Protesters set up tents and occupied the square on Tuesday morning. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
May 7, 2024, Berlin: Police and demonstrators clash during a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the Students’ Union Berlin group in the courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. Protesters set up tents and occupied the square on Tuesday morning. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
In recent days, students have protested or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, mirroring protests on U.S. campuses.
In the eastern German city of Leipzig, about 50 pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up tents and occupied lecture halls on the campus of Leipzig University on Tuesday afternoon, DPA reported.
According to the news agency, KSS, the main student organization in the state of Saxony, where Leipzig is located, called on the university to end the occupation. Paul Steinbrecher, a spokesperson for the association, told DPA that the organization behind the organization has received attention for anti-Semitic rhetoric that threatens the safety of Jewish and Israeli students. He said he is doing so.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch police broke up a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam. Police spokeswoman Sarah Tillert said around 140 protesters were arrested, two of whom remain in custody on suspicion of committing public violence.
Amsterdam police said on social media platform X that police action was “necessary to restore order” after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Video broadcast by state broadcaster NOS showed police using mechanical excavators to push down barricades, and officers with batons and shields moving in, punching some demonstrators and pulling down tents. It’s reflected. NOS reported that protesters set up barricades with wooden pallets and bicycles.
May 7, 2024, Berlin: Police and demonstrators clash during a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the Students’ Union Berlin group in the courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. Protesters set up tents and occupied the square on Tuesday morning. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Berlin, May 7, 2024: Police take action against demonstrators during a pro-Palestinian demonstration by the Student Union Berlin group in the courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. Pro-Palestinian activists occupied the courtyard of Berlin’s Free University on Tuesday. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa (Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 7: Solidarity in the university courtyard known as the “Theaterhof” of the Free University of Berlin to protest against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, on May 7, 2024 in Berlin, Germany Police intervened against the students who set up camp. (Photo by: Halil Sagilkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The University of Amsterdam said in a statement that police called off the demonstration at the Lothar Seyland campus “due to public order and safety concerns.”
“The war between Israel and Hamas has had a significant impact on individual students and staff,” the report said. “We share the anger and embarrassment about the war, and we understand that there are protests against it. We emphasize that the only answer is to have a dialogue about it within the university. Masu.”
A crowd of about 3,000 demonstrators, including students and academics, gathered Tuesday afternoon near the site of the dismantled camp, chanting slogans such as “Palestine will be free!” and wearing keffiyeh scarves. Some people were wrapping it. and “Get the police off campus!”
Amsterdam police said riot police were called out to block roads and used shields against one demonstrator who climbed onto a police vehicle. A small group of protesters also gathered outside another university building in Amsterdam’s historic center, local media reported.
Jamil Fiorino Habib, a lecturer in the university’s School of Media Studies, told the gathering: “The only way forward is a full-scale academic boycott of Israel.”
In Austria, protesters camped for a second day Tuesday in about 20 tents set up in a courtyard at the University of Vienna. Under police supervision, the demonstrators cordoned off an encampment near a monument to Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust.
The University of Vienna and the main Austrian student union distanced themselves from the protests. The union said the organizers of the protest included anti-Semitic groups, but protesters denied this.
Photo: Amsterdam Police Bulldoze Campus Palestine Protesthttps://t.co/1InkvXVaAI
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 7, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protest camps have been launched at about a dozen British universities, including the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, forcing them to fully disclose their investments, sever academic ties with Israel, and withdraw from companies linked to Israel. I am asking you to do so.
Dozens of students set up Gaza Solidarity encampments on the lawns outside King’s College, Cambridge University, and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
“Oxbridge’s profits cannot continue to increase at the expense of Palestinian lives, and Oxbridge’s reputation must no longer be built on the whitewashing of Israeli crimes,” protesters at both universities said. said in a joint statement.
More than 200 Oxford University academics signed an open letter supporting the protests.
In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Palestine Solidarity Student Union set up a camp outside the main building of the University of Helsinki and said they would remain there until the university, Finland’s largest academic institution, severed academic ties with Israel. . University.
In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Copenhagen, erecting around 45 tents outside the Faculty of Social Sciences campus. The university said students could protest, but urged them to respect campus rules.
“Seek dialogue rather than confrontation, and make room for perspectives other than your own,” administrators said at X. Administrators “cannot and must not express opinions on behalf of university staff or students on political issues, including ongoing conflicts,” the statement said, also in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. .
Members of the activist group Students Against Occupation said on their Facebook page that they have been in talks with the administration for the past two years about withdrawing investments in schools from companies linked to activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. I’ve been trying, but to no avail.
“We can no longer be satisfied with cautious dialogue that does not lead to concrete action,” the group said.
In Italy, students at the University of Bologna, one of the world’s oldest universities, are calling for an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepares to attack in Rafah, despite pleas from Western allies. In search of this, I set up a tent camp over the weekend. On the other hand. Student groups organized similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.
More than a dozen tents have been set up in a square named after a university student who fought against fascist rule during World War II. Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and banners reading “Student Intefade” or “Student Uprising.”
In Spain, dozens of students spent more than a week in a pro-Palestinian camp on the Valencia University campus. Similar camps were set up at the University of Barcelona and the University of the Basque Country on Monday. A group representing students at Madrid’s public universities has announced that it will intensify its protests against the war in the coming days.
In Paris, student groups called for a rally in solidarity with the Palestinians later on Tuesday.
On Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students who had gathered in support of the Palestinians from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (also known as Sciences Po).
On Tuesday, students from the prestigious university, whose alumni include French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron, were seen entering the campus to sit their exams unobstructed as police stood at the entrance. It was done.
Protests also occurred last week at other French universities, including Lille and Lyon. Mr Macron’s office said police had been asked to remove students from 23 locations on French campuses.
