Dozens of pro-Palestinian students gathered at 12:30 on Tuesday to protest in the Free Zone next to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. Out of solidarity with the protesters at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) who were arrested on monday night, they set up a tent. They also handed out flyers to passersby directing them to an explanation on the activists’ Instagram page. The protesters planned to stay until 17:00.
The students, who call themselves Engineering Solidarity Palestine Delft on Instagram, support the demands of the protesters at the UvA. They demand that TU Delft makes their ties with Israeli academic institutions, institutions and companies known and breaks them. They want the same thing for companies that deliver weapons to Israel.
Protests at the UvA
The action was in response to the events at the UvA last night, explains the organiser. There, about 300 students, teachers and sympathisers started protesting on the campus on Roeterseiland at about midday. More people quickly joined. Barricades were erected using pallets, fences and bricks. The police say that (in Dutch) in the end, 125 people were arrested.
In a response on Monday evening, the UvA said that ‘under no circumstances [will they] contribute to warfare in any way, and we also don’t intend to participate in exchanges in the field of military-related education’. The connections with Israeli institutions are also summarised in the notification.
Later that evening the UvA called in the police. Before that, Mayor Femke Halsema had come to talk to the demonstrators, but she could not persuade them to leave. The police also warned the demonstrators to leave before taking action.
HOP, Bas Belleman/Kim Bakker
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