riot police Netherlands arrested 140 people after a demonstration in defense of Palestine in the University of Amsterdam. An event similar to that which occurred in USAwhen hundreds of students were arrested for participating in pro-Palestine protests.
According to authorities, the clashes turned violent and they assured that they had to act to stop the event and dismantle the tents that the protesters had set up, who used violence against the police.
Netherlands: Clashes between police and pro-Palestine protesters
“The intervention of the police was necessary to restore order“, assured the police, who stated that “everything is calm now.”
According to international media, during the demonstration officers were seen using batons against protesters who were trying to block the streets surrounding the university facilities and who were trying to head towards the nearby Holocaust Memorial. In addition, they assured that the police used an excavator to tear down barricades.
Given this situation, the outgoing Minister of Education, Robert Dijkgraaf, said that universities are a place for dialogue and debate and that it saddened him that the police had to intervene. In addition, university professors and employees were also angry about the police response to the protests.
In a statement, a group calling itself Dutch Scholars for Palestine said: “Students and staff describe the use of pepper spray, police batons, police dogs and bulldozers to forcibly evict them. Was injured because of this excessive violence“.
“We firmly and unequivocally insist on the right of students and academics to participate in protests. We deplore that the administration of the University of Amsterdam resorts to use of violence instead of meeting the justified demands of the students,” they added.
In Berlinthe authorities also evicted hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied a courtyard of the Free University of Berlin. After the center’s administration informed them that it was considering evacuating them, they formed a human chain around the camp.
Protests over the war in Gaza
Student protests over the war and academic ties with Israel have begun to spread Europebut they have remained on a much smaller scale than those seen in the United States.
In Finlandprotesters from the Students for Palestine group set up a camp on the outskirts of the University of Helsinki. Those protesting said they would remain in place until the institution cuts its academic ties with Israeli universities.
In Denmarkthe students camped in the University of Copenhagen and they were installed outside the Faculty of Social Sciences, while in Belgiummore than 100 students gathered at the Ghent University.
Last Friday, the police Paris entered the prestigious French university Sciences Po and evicted the student activists who had occupied their buildings.
Source: Ambito
