Nine detained at University of Amsterdam as police, students clash
Scuffles have erupted at the University of Amsterdam between security forces and protesting students that were being evicted from a building they had occupied earlier .
Nine people were arrested during the Saturday incident for allegedly insulting police officers at a sit-in protest at the university’s Maagdenhuis building.
According to local press reports, the protesters occupied the building back in February to demand more democracy at the university.
A judge ordered the protesters to leave the college property by midnight on Friday, but the students, lecturers, and researchers that had camped out at the site refused.
The protesters that fled the building following police attempts to evict them began demonstrating in the central Spui square. Skirmishes then erupted between the protesters and riot police several times .
The protest started on February 13 at the nearby Humanities faculty in the Bungehuis building. Occupiers remained at the property for two weeks with a series of demands that included an end to program and budget cuts in the humanities department as well as the cancellation of a 50-million-euro contract to sell the building.
After a judge ordered the eviction of the protesters, they were forced out of that building after 11 days with security forces arresting 45.
Colleagues of those detained in the incident surprised the university by occupying the Maagdenhuis, which is a symbolic administrative building, following a protest march on February 26.
Reported offers of reforms by the university’s executive board, including a 10-point plan some protesters welcomed as a victory, were later rebuffed by the leadership of the protest action.
A breakthrough in negotiations between the two sides was reportedly reached last week and the protesters scheduled a press conference to declare an end to the occupation with a festival at the building.
In the last minute, however, they reportedly informed participating journalists that they were vying for stronger protest efforts and may not leave the building.
MFB/NT
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