23 arrests at ‘dangerous’ pro-Palestinian protest

At a pro-Palestinian occupation of the magnet laboratory at Radboud University Nijmegen on Tuesday, activists were in danger, according to the university. The police arrested 23 protesters.

On Tuesday morning, a group of pro-Palestinian activists occupied the Goudsmit Pavilion at Radboud University Nijmegen. They were protesting against three new research projects that the university will be undertaking with Israeli institutions from 1 January 2026.

Goudsmit Pavilion

In May, the university had announced that it would not enter into any new collaborations with the country. However, according to the board, these three partnerships had already been set up in 2023. They are subsidised by the European research programme Horizon Europe.

The researcher involved is affiliated with the Goudsmit Pavilion, which is why the protesters decided to occupy this building. The Executive Board refused to engage in dialogue with them and called on the activists to leave the building immediately for their own safety.

Highly magnetic fields

‘We work with highly magnetic fields and substances such as nitrogen and helium in there,’ a technical support worker in the building told Nijmegen university magazine Vox. ‘These can be dangerous for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.’

Because the occupiers did not come out, the university decided to call in the police on Tuesday evening. A number of activists who had chained themselves together outside the building were unchained and arrested, but the police did not dare to enter the pavilion itself.

Eventually, the occupiers left the building. A total of 23 protesters were arrested. Radboud University has filed a report with the police.

Sit-in at Delft station

There was also a pro-Palestinian protest at Delft station on Tuesday. It proceeded peacefully.

HOP, Naomi Bergshoeff