The Hague, 11 May 2024
The AOHR-NE condemns the use of police forces to break up student encampments
and calls for the protection of universities, faculty members, and students
Germany – France – Netherlands
In light of the escalating crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the “Israeli” occupation in the trapped Gaza Strip, and in solidarity with the student demonstrations at international universities, thousands of European university students went out in peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in the courtyards of their universities to demand ending the war, express their opinion and solidarity with Palestinian civilians, revealing the investments that their universities hide with “Israeli” universities and companies and demanding that they be stopped. The students were met with an excessively violent response by the police forces driven by the complicity of universities administrations and political authorities, as:
- The German police evacuated a pro-Palestinian student protest camp on the campus of the Free University of Berlin shortly after it was established. 79 people (49 women and 30 men) were arrested, 80 criminal investigations were conducted, and 79 administrative violations were issued.
- The French police arrested 88 students after they dispersed a sit-in organized by students supporting the Palestinian cause in the Sorbonne University.
- The Dutch police arrested more than 169 people on the campus of the University of Amsterdam (Roeterseiland). Police also bulldozed barricades while people were on or under them, risking of crushing students, and the bulldozer lifted several people into the air.
These events came on the same day, Tuesday, May 7th 2024, in which the “Israeli” occupation army seized the Rafah border crossing and fiercely bombed the area, killing at least 12 people.
The organization also monitored other “repressive acts” against pro-Palestinian demonstrations and figures, ranging from “judicial measures,” “harassment,” and “events cancellation”.
The Arab Organization for Human Rights in North Europa (AOHR-NE) condemns the position of the administrations of these universities in resorting to police forces and attacking peacefully protesting students, faculty members and employees, and demands that they not use means of incitement and administrative punishment to impose a political agenda. It calls on it to communicate effectively with students to understand their demands and try to resolve disputes in peaceful and constructive ways, adopt an ethical and democratic policy for their investments, and adopt standards of transparency and objectivity, similar to its previous position of suspending cooperation with Russian universities within the framework of the sanctions imposed in response to the war on Ukraine.
The organization condemns the violation of university campuses by police forces and the excessive use of force to break up demonstrations and encampments, and calls for transparent and independent investigations to determine the facts and provide accountability to those responsible for the escalation and violations.
The organization also calls on the authorities of the concerned countries to make the necessary efforts to protect universities, faculty members, and students, and to keep universities as a free space for expressing opinion and peaceful demonstration, and a center for dialogue and communication.
It is worth noting that a number of human rights organizations have documented the “Israeli” occupation’s systematic targeting of Palestinian universities and educational institutions and their employees, as the occupation destroyed 7 universities completely or partially, 97 schools completely, and 295 other schools partially, presenting services for more than 278,000 students, and 75% of other school buildings were damaged. The occupation also destroyed 215 kindergartens, and the losses of the education sector in Gaza amounted to more than 720 million dollars.
The Palestinian Ministry of Education announced that 4,327 students were martyred and 7,819 others were injured, while 231 teachers and administrators were killed, 756 were injured with various injuries, 88,000 male and female students were deprived of receiving their university education, and 555 others were unable to enrol in scholarships abroad.
