News / EU

125 students arrested as Dutch police raid pro-Palestinian camp at Amsterdam university

Tuesday, 07 May 2024 10:16 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 07 May 2024 10:30 AM ]

Participants in a pro-Palestinian protest are evacuated by bus under police surveillance at the campus of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, on May 7, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Dutch police have violently broken up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam, arresting 125 students.

The Dutch public broadcaster NOS said the riot police cleared the encampment, where the protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, in the early hours of Tuesday.Video from the scene showed the police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and officers order.”

beating the demonstrators with batons.

In messages posted on social media platform X, police claimed that their action was “necessary to restore

“We see the footage on social media. We understand that those images may appear as intense,” it added.

Outgoing Dutch education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said universities are a place for dialogue and added that he was sad to see that police had to intervene.

Pro-Palestine student group sets up tent encampment in Amsterdam, demands severing of ties with Israel

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Pro-Palestine protesters had set up the camp, urging the University of Amsterdam to break its ties with Israel because of the regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

In recent weeks, demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the United States and around the world, with the participants calling for colleges to divest from companies that support the Israeli regime.

Israel unleashed its US-backed Gaza onslaught on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a surprise operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,789 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,204 others.

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