In Pictures
Student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza spread across Europe
Growing calls and demonstrations for universities to sever ties with Israel trigger clashes and arrests.
Published On 8 May 2024
Students at various European universities, inspired by the continuing pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses in the United States, have been occupying halls and facilities, demanding an end to partnerships with Israeli institutions because of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Several hundred protesters resumed a demonstration around the University of Amsterdam campus in the Netherlands where police were filmed baton-charging them and smashing their tents after they refused to leave the grounds.
As the protests resumed on Tuesday night, the demonstrators erected barriers to access routes watched over by a heavy police deployment.
Also in the Netherlands, about 50 demonstrators were protesting on Tuesday outside the library at Utrecht University and a few dozen at the Technical University of Delft, according to the ANP news agency.
In the eastern German city of Leipzig, the university said in a statement that 50 to 60 people occupied a lecture hall on Tuesday, waving banners that read: “University occupation against genocide.”
Protesters barricaded the lecture hall doors from the inside and erected tents in the courtyard, according to the university, which called in the police and filed a criminal complaint.
Earlier, at Free University, in the German capital Berlin, police cleared a demonstration after up to 80 people erected a protest camp in a campus courtyard.
Berlin police said they made some arrests for incitement to hatred and trespassing.
Police twice intervened at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in the French capital to disperse about 20 students who had barricaded themselves in the main hall.
Security forces moved in to allow other students to take their exams and made two arrests, according to Paris prosecutors. The university said exams proceeded without incident.
At the nearby Sorbonne University building, police late on Tuesday moved to eject about 100 students who had occupied an amphitheatre and made 88 arrests, police sources said.
Protests spread to three universities in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland.
The University of Lausanne said in a statement it “considers that there is no reason to cease these relations” with Israeli universities as protesters demand.
In Austria, dozens of protesters have been camped on the campus of Vienna University, pitching tents and stringing up banners since late Thursday.
