Pro-Palestinian Student Demonstrations in Europe Are Increasingly Widespread – 2024-05-08 22:28:22

Pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris, France. (AFP/JULIEN DE ROSA)

DEMONSTRATIONS by students demanding that their campuses cut ties with Israel regarding the invasion of the Gaza Strip spread across Europe, Tuesday (7/5), with demonstrations held in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.

Students from various campuses in Europe, inspired by demonstrations on various campuses in the United States (US), occupied campus buildings demanding that their universities sever ties with Israeli institutions as punishment for the ‘Zionist State’ invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of demonstrators continued their actions Tuesday (7/5) evening around the University of Amsterdam campus, where police, the night before, stormed demonstrators and destroyed tents following students refused to leave their campus.

When the demonstration continued on Tuesday (7/5) evening, the demonstrators set up barriers to access the campus which were monitored by the police.

Police said 169 people had been detained when police broke up the demonstration on Monday (6/5) evening.

All the demonstrators have been released except for two people suspected of inciting the riot.

Also read: Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia University, New York Arrested

Meanwhile, around 50 demonstrators took action in front of the library at Utrecht University and several people at Delft Technical University.

In Leipzig, Germany, as many as 50 to 60 students occupied a lecture building on Tuesday (7/5), displaying banners reading, “Campus occupation is once morest genocide.”

The demonstrators barricaded the doors of the lecture building from inside and set up tents in the field.

Also read: Pro-Palestinian Protesters Block the Golden Gate Bridge

Previously, at Berlin University, police broke up a demonstration following 80 people set up tents on the campus field.

The demonstrators, some of whom wore keffiyehs as a pro-Palestinian symbol. sitting in front of the tent while carrying a banner.

In Paris, police twice broke up demonstrations at Sciences Po University. The police were deployed so that other students might take the exam.

Also read: Spain will immediately recognize the state of Palestine

Demonstrations were held at Sciences Po demanding that the campus explain their cooperation with Israeli institutions.

In Switzerland, protests were held at three universities in Lausanne, Geneva and Zurich.

The University of Lausanne insists it has no plans to sever ties with Israel as protesters are demanding.

In Austria, dozens of demonstrators have occupied the University of Vienna campus since Thursday (2/5).

Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by Hamas attacks on the territory of ‘Zionist Land’, has killed 34,789 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children. (AFP/Z-1)