BERLIN: Police have broken up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists who occupied a courtyard at Berlin’s Free University, the latest such action by authorities as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread across Europe.
The move on Tuesday came after activists had put up about 20 tents and formed a human chain around them to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza. Most had covered their faces with medical masks and had draped keffiyah scarves around their heads, shouting slogans such as “Viva, viva Palestina.” Police called on the students to leave the campus at the university in the German capital.
Police could also be seen carrying some students away and some scuffles erupted between police officers and protesters. Authorities used pepper spray against some of the protesters. “The demands of the people were pretty clear, basically saying that it’s time that Germany should take part 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 be stopped. They also say that students who take part in these protests should not be banned from doing so and should not lose their status as students – that is something that many students who’ve taken part in protests are afraid of,” Kane said, reporting from the scene.
The school’s administrators said in a statement that the protesters had rejected any kind of dialogue and they had therefore called in police to clear the campus. “This form of protest is not geared towards dialogue. An occupation is not acceptable on the FU Berlin campus,” university President Guenter Ziegler said. FU is the abbreviation for Free University. “We are available for academic dialog – but not in this way.”
The administrators said some protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls at Free University to occupy them. Earlier on Tuesday, police arrested about 140 activists as they broke up a similar pro-Palestinian encampment 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 aired by national broadcaster NOS shows police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers with batons and shields moving in, beating some of the protesters and pulling down tents. Protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, NOS reported. After clearing the Amsterdam protest by early afternoon Tuesday, police closed off the area by metal fences. Students sat along the banks of a nearby canal.
Courtesy: aljazeera
