Student protests demanding that their universities sever all ties with Israel over the Gaza war spread across Europe, with police interventions in France, the Netherlands and Germany to break them up.
Students from some elite universities, inspired by their peers on American campuses, multiplied their occupations of classrooms and academic centers.
They demand in particular the end of partnerships with Israeli institutions, as a sanction for the devastating offensive launched against Gaza in retaliation for the lethal attack by commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in southern Israel on October 7.
Students resume protest at the University of Amsterdam
At the University of Amsterdam, hundreds of students resumed their campus protest on Tuesday night, just a day after police evicted them with batons and destroyed their tents.
On this occasion, the protesters raised barriers on the access roads to the university, guarded by a heavy police deployment.
The intervention the day before resulted in 169 arrests, said the police, who released all but two, still in custody on charges of public disorder crimes.
In the wake of the protest, this Dutch university published a list of its collaborations with Israel, mainly student exchanges and research projects involving Israeli academics.
On its website, the university said that “under no circumstances will it contribute to the war” and that it “also does not intend to participate in exchanges in the field of military-related education.”
University protests in Paris
Similar scenes took place in Paris, where police evicted a hundred protesters who had occupied an amphitheater at the Sorbonne in “solidarity” with Gaza and arrested 88 of them.
Law enforcement also intervened twice at the prestigious Sciences Po university to disperse about 20 students who had barricaded themselves in the main hall.
The intervention was intended to allow access to students who had to pass an exam and resulted in two arrests, reported the Prosecutor’s Office of the French capital.
Police have acted several times over the past week at Sciences Po, where protesters are demanding that the university reveal its partnership agreements with Israeli institutions.
Thirteen students are on hunger strike, according to that academic center.
Movement reached Leipzig University
In Germany, the University of Leipzig in the east reported that between 50 and 60 people had occupied the institution’s amphitheater, blocking the doors from the inside and setting up tents in the courtyard.
According to a statement from the academic center, the protesters carried banners with the slogan: “Occupation of the university against genocide.”
University officials called the police in the afternoon, who reported a counter-demonstration in the area with about 40 people.
Earlier, at the Free University of Berlin, police dispersed a demonstration after up to 80 people set up a protest camp on the campus early Tuesday.
Protests also in Switzerland and Austria
In Switzerland, protests were reported in academic centers in Lausanne, Geneva and Munich. The University of Lausanne said in a statement that “there is no reason to cease relations” with Israel.
In Austria, dozens of protesters camped out on the campus of the University of Vienna on Tuesday afternoon.
Keep reading:
- MIT students break barricade and recover pro-Palestinian camp after being evicted
- Pro-Palestinian protest is cleared at the University of Southern California
- Several students arrested after confrontation at the University of Wisconsin