Pro-Palestinian group sets up tent encampment on University of Amsterdam campus

A group of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up a tent encampment on the Roeterseiland at the campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Monday. The demonstrators have called on the UvA, Vrije Universiteit (VU) and the Amsterdam University College (AUC) to cut ties with academic institutions in Israel.

Many of the dozens of protestors at the scene were either wearing a mask or a scarf to cover their faces. They were not necessarily students at either of the three Amsterdam research universities. "You do not have to be a student - all are welcome in our liberated university!" the demonstrators wrote in a statement on social media.

The University of Amsterdam told the ANP newswire that it was considering whether to press charges against the demonstrators. They university was waiting to find out with certainty if the protestors were planning to stay overnight on the grounds owned by the UvA. While the protestors barricaded two small bridges that lead to the encampment, people were still able to walk through the Roeterseiland campus.

"We will occupy and hold the line against any attempt to evict us. We need mass mobilisation, and lots of support!" the protestors wrote. "We are not here camping for two days or so," one organizer told ANP.

"All students, staff and humans are invited to join us now as we show UvA, VU and AUC that there is no business as usual when a genocide is unfolding," wrote Palestine Action Netherlands in a statement. They issued an ultimatum demanding that the three universities fully disclose their academic relationships in Israel and ties to businesses operating there.

They also want the UvA, VU and AUC to break off relationships with Israeli institutions that can be linked to Israeli settlements or violence in the Palestinian territories. The protestors also demanded the universities divest from Israeli and multinational companies that either directly or indirectly profit from aggression in the region.

Some of the points the demonstrators raised were not directly linked to the current violence in the Gaza Strip region that began on October 7, when members of Hamas crossed the Gaza border into Israel to carry out an attack, and took numerous hostages. Previously, groups like Palestine Action A'dam have accused ING Bank of providing financing to companies that either build, develop or monitor the Palestinian territories. They have also lashed out at American companies IBM and Cisco, and included them in Dutch protests because they have branches present in the Netherlands.

Another group, AU Free Palestine has also noted that the University of Amsterdam works with Ben-Gurion University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. It alleged that those three Israeli institutions work with Israeli government contractor Elbit Systems. It also criticized Vrije Universiteit for its connection to the vast European Union Horizon 2020 Programme, which is responsible for handing out 95 billion euros in research grants across the EU on a wide variety of subjects. The Horizon 2020 Programme has also allegedly financed Elbit Systems projects.

Both organizations were represented at the demonstration. The protestors said they were "taking back this campus in solidarity with the people of Palestine," and expressed admiration for similar university protests in the United States since April.

"This escalation is a result of seven months of peaceful protests against our universities' ties to Israeli institutions, during which the universities have chosen to sanction and arrest their own students rather than condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people and end their complicity with the Zionist apartheid regime," they wrote.