Video: Amsterdam police use batons as pro-Palestinian rally nears Holocaust memorial

Police struck several protestors participating in a pro-Palestinian demonstration and march that started at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Tuesday afternoon. At least two officers were seen using a baton as the march got within a block of the Holocaust Memorial of Names on Weesperstraat.

Officers set up a defensive position to block the demonstrators who wanted to walk north on the street, past the brick, glass and mirrored Holocaust monument, towards the Amsterdam city center. Several police vans were used to block off the road, and the demonstrators tried to push past the vans.

Riot police "used shields on Weesperstraat to keep demonstrators at a distance. A demonstrator who wanted to jump over a bus was kept at a distance with a baton," police said. The situation calmed down soon after. The demonstrators continued in a different direction, walking instead via Nieuwe Keizersgracht towards the center.

A few thousand teachers, students, and others gathered at the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Tuesday to express solidarity with the pro-Palestinian groups who had set up a protest camp there on Monday. The encampment popped up during the day, and was eventually removed by the police overnight.

About a thousand protestors were in attendance at about 5:15 p.m., according to an ANP reporter at the scene. The demonstration by students, faculty and staff from the university started at 4 p.m., and participants continued to arrive afterwards.

They expressed disappointment with the police response during Monday’s demonstration, shouting, “We are peaceful, what are you?” at the officers present. They also continued their call for the UvA, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam University College to cut ties to the State of Israel, and Israeli companies and academic institutions.

The group walked with a police escort past the Amsterdam Law School until they stopped at the crossroads with the Roetersstraat. The road was filled with demonstrators, preventing traffic from passing. Police were on both sides of the group to keep the situation under control. The group is now moving via the Sarphatistraat towards the Weesperplein. The police are also going that way.

The people present were shouting slogans like "Free, free Palestine" and "Boycott Israel." Some have Palestinian flags with them and signs with words like "End the genocide" and "Proud of our students." They also have drums with them, which they use to make noise. Many people are watching the protestors from the side of the road.

Agenten worden getreiterd door demonstranten. #uvaprotest pic.twitter.com/u4BMWooRZz

— Marijn Schrijver (@schrijver) May 7, 2024

The teachers endorse the students' call for the UvA Executive Board to cut ties with "organizations that are complicit in genocide," said sociology teacher Sam Hamer on Tuesday. "We are demonstrating to push the UvA in that direction."

Dozens of people also demonstrated on the grounds of TU Delft on Tuesday as part of a protest against Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. The technical university said around 40 people attended, at the group promised they would leave by the end of the afternoon.

The university said that they trusted the students would keep their promise, protest peacefully, and end their demonstration on schedule. It started at about noon on a portion of the campus lawn along Cornelis Drebbelweg. A tent was put up their in support of the University of Amsterdam protest a day earlier.

The demonstration ended without incident.