Student protests against the war on Gaza expanded in Swiss universities on Monday, coinciding with sit-ins at British, Dutch and Belgian universities.
Swiss students organized protests at the universities of Basel, Bern, Friborg, and Neuchâtel, similar to the movement at the universities of Lausanne and Geneva.
The protesters demanded an end to the Israeli war on Gaza and an academic boycott of institutions that support Israel, raising the same slogans raised by students at American universities from which the spark of protests began on April 18.
Students at the University of Geneva confirmed their adherence to their ongoing sit-in on the university campus since May 7.
This came after the university administration issued a statement in which it said that it would be transparent about its relations with international institutions, and also expressed its solidarity with the academic community in Gaza.
But the protesters saw the statement as vague and lukewarm in language, according to what was reported by local radio station WRS.
The protesters rejected the university’s threat to withdraw this statement if they did not end their protest, and expressed their fear that the sit-in might be dispersed by force.
Despite the university administration’s warning to ‘evacuate the campus’, students at University of #Geneva in #Switzerland continue their pro-Palestinian protest on campus since May 7#GazaSolidarityEncampment #Palestine #Netanyahu pic.twitter.com/yRPjY6fPVK
— Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) May 13, 2024
Protests in the Netherlands and Belgium
Meanwhile, students, faculty and staff at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands continue their protest against the war on Gaza.
Today, the Dutch police tried to disperse the protesters, while a number of students set up tents inside the university building with the aim of staging a sit-in inside.
The demonstrators demanded an end to what they described as the ongoing bloodbath in Gaza for months. They also chanted slogans calling for the lifting of the siege on Gaza, and renewed their demands for the university administration to stop any cooperation with Israeli universities.
At the University of Leuven, the largest university in Belgium, students began an open sit-in to put pressure on the university administration and to sever its relations with Israel and recognize the genocide to which the Palestinians are subjected in Gaza.
The students submitted to the Board of Directors a request that included revealing the forms of existing academic and commercial relations with Israel. They also demanded support for Palestinian students whose education was interrupted this year.
The British movement continues
In Britain, students from a number of universities continue their sit-ins for the second week in a row.
Protesters at Cambridge University welcomed news that Trinity College had taken a decision to withdraw its investments from military manufacturing companies.
The protesters demand that the university administration reveal its investments in companies that they consider complicit in Israeli war crimes. They also called for an end to academic partnerships with Israeli universities.
At the same time, the sit-in by students at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies has entered its second week.
The students set up their tents on the university campus to increase pressure on the college administration to sever its financial and academic relations with companies and institutions that support Israel.
The students also hung pictures of the late Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent, colleague Sherine Abu Aqla, in their camp, as they commemorated the second anniversary of her assassination, recalling the systematic Israeli targeting of Palestinian journalists.