There were also pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the university environment in Munich on Friday. A group calling itself “unicommitteepalestina_muc” called for a rally at 5:45 p.m. in front of the main building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) on Brüder-Scholl-Platz under the motto “Free Palestine. From Columbia to Munich”. At New York’s Columbia University, pro-Palestinian students set up a protest camp and occupied a building; the police then intervened.
The demonstration in Munich, which according to police reports was attended by around 100 people, was peaceful, but was still turbulent for other reasons: there was a controversy about the meeting location. The district administration department (KVR) initially approved the Zwilling-Scholl-Platz for the demonstration, while a counter-event was registered on the opposite Professor-Huber-Platz. In the afternoon the decision was changed: the pro-Palestinian rally should be moved to the Munich Freedom.
This was preceded by a protest by the Association of Jewish Students in Bavaria. “It is regrettable that another anti-Israel demonstration is taking place at Zwilling-Scholl-Platz,” the VJSB said in a statement and demanded: The LMU should ensure that the demonstration remains in the public square and not – as in one other similar actions in the past – spread to the entrance area of the university.
The LMU, in turn, distanced itself from the event in a statement and at the same time criticized the city. The calling group “does not belong to the LMU,” it said in a statement. The university is against the demands made and is clearly against “any form of anti-Semitism as well as any discrimination.”
Addressing the city, the LMU formulated: The city of Munich has already tried in the past to “ensure that when registrations for demonstrations on Brüder-Scholl-Platz, especially for political rallies on such sensitive topics, a “Relocation to another location is being examined”.
The pro-Palestinian side did not accept that the KVR finally complied. “We won’t let ourselves be driven out here. It’s about the university,” explained the chairman of the meeting, who did not want to give his name, in an interview with the SZ. It was negotiated in several rounds that the meeting could take place within sight of the university, in front of the building at Ludwigstrasse 28.
The leadership of the meeting publicly stated: “We don’t need to discuss with the police, they are not on our side.” The “ban” is politically motivated. Solidarity was also expressed with the students at Columbia University who were subjected to “police reprisals”. The group had previously formulated its goal on social media: “We don’t have to watch helplessly as the genocide in Gaza progresses and the rights of students in Germany are further restricted.”
There had also apparently been a pro-Palestinian protest at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). In a video published by unicommitteepalestina_muc on Instagram, around half a dozen women and men of student age can be seen marching through a building on the campus in Garching with a banner with the inscription “Stop the genocide in Gaza”. Among other things, they loudly demand a ban on universities collaborating with military research and that TUM should end all partnerships with Israeli universities.
According to the video images, the campaign was apparently not well received by the other students. TUM itself was still checking the process on Friday.