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Barricades have been erected by pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Amsterdam today, with desks and railings being used to block off the canalside entrance in the heart of the city.

Those involved in the protest vowed to stay put until the institution severs all ties with Israel.

Riot police used a bulldozer to knock down barricades at another UvA site yesterday and detained 169 people, but said the university had not yet asked for similar intervention on today.

The encampment at University of Amsterdam had the riot police called on it in its first 12 hours. UvA called the police on its own students, who then razed unarmed student protestors with a bulldozer. Over a 100 protestors are now arrested.
power to the students. in our lifetime pic.twitter.com/lLkG8Veu7e

— m (@khanonically) May 7, 2024

The students in the Dutch capital are joining a wave of sit-ins and other actions at universities throughout Europe against Israel’s war in Gaza, following larger-scale disturbances at US universities.

UvA management are hoping talks on today will bring an end to the protests, but the students were digging in, pulling up bricks from the streets and pavements near to the 19th century campus and forming human chains to send them to the barricade.

The protesters say the Israeli institutions the university works with profit from the oppression of Palestinians.

“We will remain until UvA, VU and AUC DISCLOSE, BOYCOTT, AND DIVEST!,” the organisers, amsterdam.encampment, said on Instagram overnight. They were referring to two other institutions in the city, although all the protests are at UvA.

The university said on Monday it had exchange programmes with three universities in Israel, which have been halted because of security concerns, and was cooperating with Israeli scientists or companies in eight different European research projects.

It said none of these cooperations were in support of military goals.

UvA said in a statement that it wanted to find a solution with the students, who have been protesting since Monday, adding that they have “caused considerable damage” to its buildings.

It comes after police dispersed protests at the Swiss University of Zurich and at the courtyard of the Freie Universitaet Berlin yesterday.

Last week, police took similar action at the Sorbonne University in Paris, while the Brussels University said it would file a police complaint against students who were involved in a violent protest.

In a response to protesters, Ireland’s Trinity College Dublin (TCD) said this week that it would pull investments from Israeli companies that the United Nations link to settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, following a student protest over the war in Gaza.