The Hague, May 9 (EFE).- At least 32 people were arrested this Thursday around the University of Amsterdam during a police intervention to break up a protest against the Israeli war in Gaza, while a demonstration ended without confrontations. similar in Utrecht that also demanded the end of university relations with Israel.
The protesters returned to camp yesterday at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), after having been forcibly evicted by the authorities in the early hours of last Tuesday, and despite the fact that the university rector began talks with the students yesterday morning and teachers about the reasons for their mobilization.
The police had to intervene this morning because the university filed a complaint for vandalism considering that security was being put at risk and preventing the continuation of classes.
The officers knocked down the barricades and some protesters emptied fire extinguishers and threw objects at them, leading to the intervention of riot police.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reacted to these protests by demanding an end to the use of violence in universities. “Recent events in and around the UvA have clearly crossed boundaries. Demonstrating is allowed. Always. But using violence against the police and causing harm is never allowed. “Stop!” he pointed out.
Another group of protesters occupied a building at Utrecht University also protesting the Israeli war in Gaza, although in this case, the faculty did not enter into conversations with the students and asked them on several occasions to leave, until they finally intervened. police.
The officers removed the protesters one by one, without much resistance. Some ended up leaving, and about 40 were taken by police on buses to other parts of the city. “They were dropped off elsewhere and were not arrested,” Utrecht police said.
According to the Dutch agency ANP, Utrecht University will keep its classroom and research buildings in the city center closed until next Monday morning to “prevent further inconvenience and potentially unsafe situations.” The faculty also closes today, since this Thursday is a national holiday in the Netherlands for Ascension Day.
The university also made an “urgent call to all its students to maintain peace, prevent further escalations and continue to treat each other with respect.”
For his part, the Minister of Education, Robert Dijkgraaf, considered the destruction caused by some protesters “unacceptable” and assured that there were not only students and teachers, but also “professional troublemakers.”
Rutte also regretted that “increasingly and with harsher words, the violence in Gaza is unfairly attributed to Dutch Jews,” and warned that this is “a form of anti-Semitism that we must continue to fight loud and clear.”
“We must not remain silent or look away,” he said, announcing that he will hold a new meeting on Monday with several social organizations to talk about anti-Semitism.
