Police broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists occupying a courtyard at Berlin's Free University, the latest such action by authorities as protests that have rocked U.S. campuses have spread throughout Europe.
Tuesday's move came after activists set up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around them to protest Israel's war in Gaza.
Most had covered their faces with medical masks and wrapped keffiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as “Long live Palestine.” Police asked students to leave the university campus in the German capital.
Police could also be seen taking away some students and some clashes broke out between police officers and protesters. Authorities used pepper spray against some of the protesters.
“The people's demands were quite clear, they were basically saying it's time for Germany to participate in the protest movement around the world,” said Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane.
“They demand that the genocide they say is taking place in Gaza stop. They also say that students who participate in these protests should not be prohibited from doing so and should not lose their student status; that is something that many students who have participated in the protests fear,” Kane said, reporting from the scene.
School administrators said in a statement that protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and had therefore called police to clear the campus.
“This form of protest is not oriented towards dialogue. An occupation on the FU Berlin campus is not acceptable,” said university rector Guenter Ziegler. FU is the abbreviation of Free University. “We are available for academic dialogue, but not in this way.”
Administrators said some protesters tried to enter rooms and conference rooms at the Free University to occupy them.
Dismantling of the Amsterdam camp
Earlier on Tuesday, police arrested about 140 activists while breaking up a similar pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Amsterdam.
Amsterdam police said on social media that their action was “necessary to restore order” after protests turned violent. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Video from the scene broadcast by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical excavator to tear down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and knocking down tents. Protesters had formed barricades with wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.
After clearing the Amsterdam protest early Tuesday afternoon, police closed off the area with metal fencing. The students sat on the banks of a nearby canal.
“The war between Israel and Hamas is having a major impact on students and staff,” the school said in a statement. “We share the anger and confusion about the war and we understand that there are protests about it. We emphasize that within the university, dialogue on the matter is the only answer,” he stated.
Anywhere else?
Other camps have sprung up in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom in recent days, apparently inspired by a wave of protests on American campuses.
In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up camp in front of the main building of the University of Helsinki, saying they would remain there until the university, Finland's largest academic institution, severed its academic ties with universities. Israelis.
In Denmark, students set up a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Copenhagen, pitching around 45 tents outside the Faculty of Social Sciences campus. The university said students can protest, but asked them to respect the rules on campus. “Seek dialogue, not conflict, and leave room for perspectives other than your own,” administrators at X said.
On their Facebook page, members of the activist group Students Against the Occupation said their attempts to speak to the administration over the past two years about the school's withdrawal of investments from companies with ties to activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the territories occupied Palestinians have been in vain. vain.
“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, set up a tent camp over the weekend to demand an end to the war in Gaza as Israel prepared an offensive in Rafah, despite of the pleas of his Western allies against him. . Student groups organized similar protests in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.
In Spain, dozens of students have spent more than a week in a pro-Palestinian camp on the campus of the University of Valencia. Similar camps were organized on Monday at the University of Barcelona and the University of the Basque Country. A group representing students from Madrid's public universities announced that it would intensify anti-war protests in the coming days.
On Friday, French police peacefully expelled dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, after they had gathered in support of the Palestinians.
On Tuesday, students from the prestigious institution, which counts French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni, were seen entering the campus unimpeded to take exams while police stood at the entrances.
Last week, protests occurred at other universities in France, including Lille and Lyon. Macron's office said police had been asked to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses.
