Amsterdam’s city council is due to hold an emergency debate on the ongoing protests on Friday.
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Clashes broke out between police and demonstrators at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Wednesday, May 8, where students have been calling since Monday for the institution to sever all ties with Israel due to its military offensive in Gaza . Images broadcast by local channel AT5 showed dozens of riot police arresting demonstrators as such mobilizations multiply across Europe, following the example of the United States.
Organizers and the UvA leadership were in talks on Wednesday. These discussions led to nothing, protesters told state media NOS. “The police are starting to clear the barricades that have been set up on the ground”, police said from Amsterdam on the social network “The operation was authorized by the mayor”, added the police, specifying that the UvA had filed a complaint for disturbing public order and destruction of property. Police also said the protesters are not just students, and that people “unaffiliated with the university (…) deliberately sought to enter into conflict with the police”.
An emergency debate in the municipal council
Images broadcast on AT5 showed police arresting some demonstrators and pushing barricades made of stones and pallets, among other things, into a canal using a backhoe. Several hundred demonstrators on the Binnengasthuis site of the UvA notably chanted “Shame on you”, “Free Free Palestine”, “Boycott Israel” or “Stop genocide” to the rhythm of drums. A small group, on the other side of the canal, was surrounded by police. A protester escaped the police by jumping into a canal after jumping on an excavator.
The demonstrators had occupied another part of the ground on Monday noon, from which they were violently evacuated in the early hours of Tuesday. Some 140 people were arrested. Protesters returned to the university site on Tuesday. Hundreds of protesters also gathered on the campus of Utrecht University, according to local media, and the Amsterdam city council is due to hold an emergency debate on the ongoing protests on Friday.