The mobilization of students in support of Gaza affects many countries, mainly in Europe and especially in the United States. Police officers and pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed on Wednesday on the campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
Police said on X around midnight that they had arrested 32 people for “violence, destruction, aggression and incitement” on the university site and on a major thoroughfare in the center of the Dutch capital. The demonstrators had blocked it after being forcefully evacuated from the university. Students have been demonstrating since Monday for the institution to cut all ties with Israel because of its military offensive in Gaza.
Baton blows against ammonia
Images broadcast by Dutch media showed dozens of riot police late in the afternoon using batons against demonstrators who had occupied a university building on Tuesday evening. The demonstrators then, according to the police, blocked Rokin, an important artery of the capital, where violence also broke out. “Protesters threw ammonia at riot police,” according to law enforcement.
Talks took place during the day between the UvA leadership and demonstrators, which were clearly unsuccessful. Images broadcast on local channel AT5 showed police arresting demonstrators at the university’s Binnengasthuis site late in the afternoon, and pushing barricades into a canal using an excavator.
Several hundred supporters observed the scene, chanting “Shame on you”, “Free Free Palestine”, “Stop genocide”. Protesters threw stones and sprayed fire extinguishers at police, she said. Some of them were not students, but people “unaffiliated with the university” who “deliberately sought conflict.” A protester escaped the police by jumping into a canal after jumping on an excavator.
Utrecht University also busy
The demonstrators had occupied another part of the UvA campus on Monday midday, from where they were violently evacuated in the early hours of Tuesday. 169 people were arrested. Footage broadcast on public broadcaster NOS also showed police charging at protesters with batons and destroying tents after they refused to leave the campus. Protesters returned to the university site on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people also gathered on the Utrecht University campus on Wednesday and occupied a building, according to local media.