Pro-Palestinian student protests spark clashes, arrests as campus demonstrations spread across Europe

The police in the German capital city Berlin, on Tuesday (May 7) broke up a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian activists at Berlin’s Free University. This comes as the pro-Palestinian protests which began and are continuing on campuses across the United States are now spreading to universities in Europe.

Countries likeFinland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom have also witnessed pro-Palestinianprotestson universitiescampuses.Protesters have called on officials to cut academic ties with Israel over its ongoing war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Protests at German universities

Berlin Police, on Tuesday, broke a protest by several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had set up an encampment, earlier in the day, in the courtyard of Berlin’s Free University and formed a human chain around it.

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The law enforcement officials were seen carrying protesters amid scuffles and even used pepper spray against some of them.Officials at Free University said protesters attempted to enter rooms and lecture halls to occupy them and rejected any kind of dialogue which prompted them to call the police.

German news agency, dpa, reported about 50 pro-Palestinian protesters set up tents on campus of the Leipzig University and occupied a lecture hall, on Tuesday afternoon.

University ofAmsterdam

A massive protest erupted in the Dutch capital on Tuesday as a crowd of several hundred people marched and blocked downtown streets chanting “Free, Free Palestine!”

This was after the Dutch riot police used a bulldozer to knock down barricades at an encampment on Tuesday morning at Amsterdam University and detained around 140 people.

“Students and staff describe the use of pepper spray, police batons, police dogs and bulldozers to forcefully remove them. People were injured because of this excessive violence,” said a group called Dutch Scholars for Palestine, in a statement.

The University of Amsterdam said that they called the police after what began as a peaceful student protest turned violent, with beatings, the throwing of fireworks and the burning of an Israeli flag.

All but four protesters, who were charged with public violence and insulting an officer were still in detention, while others were released.

The police noted that the action was taken after requests from the university and the mayor were ignored. One officer had suffered hearing damage, but it is unclear how many other people may have been injured, said the police.

On Tuesday, the police in the French capital twice intervened todisperse about 20 students who had barricaded themselves in the university's main hall. According to prosecutors, two people were arrested.

University of Lausanne

InSwitzerland, protests which began at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), spread tothree universities across the country, reported AFP. Hundreds of students occupied ahall Thursday evening and demandedan end to partnerships with Israeli universities.

However, the university saidit "considers that there is no reason to cease these relations".

University of Chicago

The police, on early Tuesday, cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment set up at the University of Chicago as hundreds of protesters had gathered in an area known as the Quad for over a week.

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“The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests,” school President Paul Alivisatos, adding that “appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.”

Ahead of the police action on Tuesday morning, the number of protesters on campus had increased to more than 200.

MIT

The protesters at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were given a Monday afternoon deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension.

A report by the Associated Press citing an MIT spokesperson at the institute said many had left, but as of Monday night dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere.

(With inputs from agencies)