NEW YORK (VINnews) — Netherlands police ended a pro-Palestinian protest at Utrecht University, arresting around 50 demonstrators after midnight. A similar protest at a University of Amsterdam campus happened without intervention from the authorities, according to Dutch media reports.
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In Utrecht, protesters occupied the courtyard of the University Library on the Drift at around 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday. They erected tents and barricades and demanded that Utrecht University speak out on the situation in Gaza and break all ties with Israeli universities.
Toward the end of the evening, some 150 demonstrators remained. The authorities ordered them to leave, and some did. After midnight, the police arrested the remaining 50 protesters and took them away on two city buses.
In Amsterdam, thousands of protesters gathered on Roeterseiland, where another protest happened on Monday, and they moved through the city center to occupy the Binnengasthuis, one of the University of Amsterdam’s main locations. Police were seen using batons on protesters as their march took them close to the Holocaust memorial.
The university did not press trespassing charges on Tuesday, and police did not intervene in the occupation of the Binnengasthuis. On Wednesday morning, a few dozen protesters were still visibly present at the campus, a Dutch reporter at the scene said. They added that more demonstrators may be sleeping inside buildings.
The Amsterdam demonstration is an initiative of the university’s lecturers and students. Several protestors said on Tuesday that they joined the demonstration in solidarity with Monday’s protesters. The demonstration was peaceful but disrupted by people from outside the university, they said.
The police arrested some 140 protesters at the demonstration on Roeterseiland during the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The University of Amsterdam wrote in a statement that university buildings suffered “significant damage.” It did not say exactly what the damage entails. The Executive Board said it would like to talk to demonstrators this morning to find a solution. Due to the demonstrations, several university buildings will be closed on Wednesday.
The Amsterdam demonstrators also demanded that the university break ties with Israeli universities, among other things, due to the ongoing war in Gaza.