32 people were arrested in Amsterdam during the evacuation of anti-war demonstrators on Gaza

The Hague, May 9 (EFE). – At least 32 people were arrested, today, Thursday, in the vicinity of the University of Amsterdam during police intervention to disperse a protest against the Israeli war on Gaza, while a demonstration ended without similar confrontations in Utrecht, which also demanded an end to university relations. With Israel.

The demonstrators returned to their camp yesterday at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), after the authorities forcibly expelled them in the early hours of last Tuesday, and despite the fact that the university president’s office yesterday morning began talks with students and professors regarding the reasons for their recruitment.

The police were forced to intervene this morning because the university filed a complaint on charges of sabotage, considering that this endangers security and prevents the continuation of studies.

Officers broke down barricades and some demonstrators emptied fire extinguishers and threw objects at them, prompting riot police to intervene.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded to these protests by demanding an end to the use of violence on campuses. “The recent events in and around the UvA have clearly crossed the line. Demonstrating is permissible. Always. But using violence against the police and causing harm is absolutely not permissible. Stop!” he said.

Another group of demonstrators occupied a building at Utrecht University in protest against the Israeli war in Gaza, although in this case the faculty did not engage in conversations with the students and asked them several times to leave, until the police finally intervened.

The officers removed the demonstrators one by one, without much resistance. Some ended up leaving, and police took about 40 people on buses to other parts of the city. “They have been extradited to another location and have not been arrested,” Utrecht police said.

According to the Dutch ANP agency, Utrecht University will keep its classrooms and research buildings in the city center closed until next Monday morning “to prevent further inconvenience and possible unsafe situations.” The college is also closed today, as this Thursday is a national holiday in the Netherlands for Ascension Day.

The university also sent “an urgent appeal to all its students to maintain peace, prevent further escalation, and continue to treat each other with respect.”

For his part, Education Minister Robert Dijkgraaf considered the destruction caused by some demonstrators “unacceptable,” and stressed that there were not only students and teachers, but “professional rioters” as well.

Rutte also lamented that “increasingly and in harsher words, the violence in Gaza is being unfairly attributed to Dutch Jews,” and warned that this was “a form of anti-Semitism that we must continue to fight loudly and clearly.”

“We must not remain silent or turn a blind eye,” he said, announcing that he would hold a new meeting on Monday with several social organizations to talk about anti-Semitism.