Police arrest 14 climate activists while clearing out University of Amsterdam building

On Tuesday evening, the police arrested 14 people while clearing out a University of Amsterdam building. The climate activists had occupied a hall at the Roeterseiland campus. They are suspected of, among other things, a “breach of the local peace and rebellion,” the police said on Twitter.

The activists occupied the hall to demand that the university break ties with the fossil fuel industry. There have been similar occupations at other academic institutions this month.

The protesters intended to spend the night in the University of Amsterdam building. The university said that demonstrations are allowed, but it does not permit overnight stays in its academic facilities. Earlier this year, there was also a climate protest at a University of Amsterdam building. Thirty people were arrested then.

According to the activists, the university is still not responding to their demands. The University of Amsterdam decided in February not to enter into new collaborations with companies like Shell for the time being. There would also be broad discussions about the existing collaborations. But the activists doubt whether these will lead to change.

Last week, there were climate protests at Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, and the agricultural college Van Larenstein in Velp, Gelderland. The police ended some of these actions.

After the protest, Utrecht University decided to designate climate change as a state of emergency. Erasmus University did the same. Later this month, activists also want to demonstrate at the University in Wageningen.