The latest actions by authorities in a string of protests that have roiled schools in the United States have spread across Europe. On Tuesday, German authorities broke up a rally by some hundred pro-Palestine activists who had previously occupied a courtyard at Berlin’s Free University.
Some students have even called for Israel’s scientific ties to be cut because of the Gaza war.
Around 20 houses had been constructed by the protesters in Berlin, and a mortal ring had been formed around them. The majority of the people had sported medical masks, wore keffiyeh hats, and screamed” Viva, viva Palestina” on their faces while wearing masks.
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 07: Police act students set up cooperation station in the school’s interior garden, known as ‘ Theaterhof,’ at Free University of Berlin to rally Jewish offensive in Gaza on May 07, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. ( Photo by Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images )
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 07: Police act individuals set up camp at Free University of Berlin to rally Jewish attacks on Gaza on May 07, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. Individuals rallied in cooperation with Palestinians, organizing a show on campus. They established a unity station in the school’s internal courtyard, known as ‘ Theaterhof,’ by pitching houses. ( Photo by Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images )
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 7: Police act to remove pro- Palestine protesters after the protesters attempted to split up a protest station at the Free University on May 07, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. For the past few weeks, mainly communist pro-Palestine activists have been protesting in various locations throughout the city, including a camp close to the Chancellery and a sit-in at one of the city’s universities. ( Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images )
Police in Berlin activated monitors to direct students from the school. As officers and protesters fought it out, some kids were seen carrying them away by authorities. Some of the protesters were also sprayed with pepper by authorities. The demonstrators had called in officers to leave the campus, according to the school’s administrators, who stated in a statement that they had rejected any form of speech.
FU Berlin campus leader Guenter Ziegler remarked,” An employment is unacceptable on the campus. FU is the name for Free University. We can engage in educational discussion, but not in this manner.
Some protesters allegedly attempted to hold Free University’s lecture corridors and rooms by attempting to enter them. According to the school declaration, the opposition organizers had urged other students and professors to participate in the action.
According to the organizers, there were students from various Berlin institutions and other people organizing the protests.
The university’s decision to summon police before things got worse was welcomed by Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate against Israel’s ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which was sparked by Hamas ‘ extraordinary October 7 attack, against police on May 7, 2024 at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. In a school yard, according to local press reports, campaigners set up a opposition camp with tents. The school has called the police, who have established a perimeter around the neighborhood, and ordered the removal. ( Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP ) ( Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images )
07 May 2024, Berlin: Activists stand in front of police officers outside the tent during a pro- Arab show by the” Student Coalition Berlin” team in the theater yard of Freie Universität Berlin. On Tuesday night, the individuals set up tents in the square. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa ( Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images )
07 May 2024, Berlin: Police officers fight with demonstrators during a pro- Arab show by the” Student Coalition Berlin” team in the theatre courtyard of Freie Universität Berlin. On Tuesday morning, the participants set up tents in the square. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa ( Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images )
In recent days, students have held protests or set up encampments in Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and Britain, mirroring protests at U. S. campuses.
About 50 pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly set up tents on the Leipzig University campus and occupied a lecture hall on Tuesday afternoon, according to dpa.
The news agency said that the main student association in the state of Saxony, where Leipzig is located, the KSS, called on the university to break up the occupation. The association’s spokesperson, Paul Steinbrecher, told dpa that the group behind it had attracted attention with antisemitic statements and that the safety of Jewish and Israeli students was threatened.
Dutch police detained a similar pro-Palestine demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam earlier on Tuesday. About 140 protesters were detained, according to Sara Tillart, a spokeswoman for the police. Two of them are still being detained on suspicion of causing public disturbances.
After protests turned violent, Amsterdam police declared on social media platform X that their actions were “necessary to restore order.” There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Police officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters, and pulling down tents are seen on a video that was broadcast by the national broadcaster NOS. Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported.
07 May 2024, Berlin: Police officers fight with demonstrators during a pro- Arab show by the” Student Coalition Berlin” team in the theatre courtyard of Freie Universität Berlin. On Tuesday morning, the participants set up tents in the square. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa ( Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images )
07 May 2024, Berlin: Police officers take action against demonstrators during a pro- Palestinian demonstration by the” Student Coalition Berlin” group in the theater courtyard of Freie Universität Berlin. On Tuesday, pro-Palestine activists occupied the Free University in Berlin’s courtyard. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa ( Photo by Sebastian Gollnow/picture alliance via Getty Images )
BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 07: Police act students set up cooperation station in the school’s interior garden, known as ‘ Theaterhof,’ at Free University of Berlin to rally Jewish offensive in Gaza on May 07, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. ( Photo by Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images )
Due to “public order and safety concerns,” according to a statement from The Amsterdam University, police “halted the demonstration at its Roeterseiland campus.”
According to the statement,” The conflict between Hamas and Israel is seriously impacting individual students and staff.” We understand that there are protests over the war, and we share our anger and perplexity with it. We stress that within the university, dialogue about it is the only answer”.
A crowd that swelled to some 3, 000 demonstrators, including students and academic staff, some wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered Tuesday afternoon near the location of the dismantled camp, chanting slogans including,” Palestine will be free”! and” Cops off campus”!
One protester who climbed onto a police car was confronted by riot officers in Amsterdam, according to the police in Amsterdam. A smaller group of protesters also gathered outside another of the university’s buildings in the historic heart of Amsterdam, local media reported.
Jamil Fiorino- Habib, a lecturer at the university´s media studies department, told the gathering,” the only path forward is a total academic boycott of Israel”.
On Tuesday, protesters in Austria set up tents in the University of Vienna’s main courtyard for a second day. With police monitoring, protesters cordoned off the encampment, which is near a memorial for Austrian Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
The main Austrian Union of Students and the University of Vienna took a stand against the demonstration. The union said “antisemitic groups were among the protest’s organizers”, which the protesters denied.
Pictures: Amsterdam Police Bulldoze Campus Palestine Protesthttps: //t. co/1InkvXVaA I
— Breitbart London ( @BreitbartLondon ) May 7, 2024
About a dozen universities in the UK have established pro-Palestine protest camps, including those at Oxford and Cambridge, in which they are urged to fully disclose their investments, cut academic ties to Israel, and devolve from local businesses.
On the lawns of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum and King’s College in Cambridge, dozens of students have set up Gaza solidarity camps.
In a joint statement released by the two universities, protesters said,” Oxbridge’s profits cannot continue to rise at the expense of Palestinian lives, and their reputations must not be built on the whitewashing of Israeli crimes.”
An open letter supporting the protests has been signed by over 200 Oxford academics.
In Finland, dozens of protesters from the Students for Palestine solidarity group set up an encampment outside the main building at the University of Helsinki, saying they would stay there until the university, which is Finland´s largest academic institution, cuts academic ties with Israeli universities.
In Denmark, students set up a pro- Palestinian encampment at the University of Copenhagen, erecting about 45 tents outside the campus of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The university urged students to follow the rules on campus grounds despite the fact that they could protest.
The administrators on X advised users to” seek dialogue, not conflict, and make room for perspectives other than your own.” According to the statement, the administration” cannot and must not express an opinion on behalf of university employees and students regarding political issues, including the ongoing conflict” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Members of the student organization Students Against the Occupation claimed that their unsuccessful attempts to approach the administration over the past two years to halt their investment in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories have been met with success.
The group claimed,” We can no longer be satisfied with a cautious conversation that does n’t produce concrete results.”
In spite of Western allies ‘ protests against the Israeli offensive in Rafah, students at the University of Bologna, one of the oldest universities in the world, set up a tent camp in Italy over the weekend to demand an end to the conflict there. Similar demonstrations by student groups took place in Rome and Naples, which were largely peaceful.
A piazza named for a university student who fought fascist rule during World War II contained more than a dozen tents. Some were decorated with Palestinian flags and a banner read” Student Intefadeh”, or” Student Uprising”.
Difficulty students have spent more than a week at a University of Valencia campus that supports the Palestinians. At the University of Barcelona and the University of the Basque Country, similar camps were established on Monday. In the upcoming days, a group representing students at Madrid’s public universities announced it would start escalating its war protests.
Later on Tuesday, student organizations in Paris demanded gatherings to show solidarity with Palestinians.
After gathering in support of Palestinians on Friday, French police peacefully removed dozens of students from the Paris Institute of Political Studies, or Sciences Po, building.
As police sat outside the prestigious institution’s entrances on Tuesday, students were spotted entering on the sidelines of the campus, where the former presidents Emmanuel Macron and the French prime minister Gabriel Attal were pictured taking exams.
At some other French universities, including those in Lille and Lyon, protests took place last week. According to Macron’s office, students were requested to leave 23 of France’s campuses.
