AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Belgian and Dutch students Monday held protests against Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of students set up an encampment at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), pitching tents, playing in drum circles, and hoisting banners with slogans like “Palestine is defending humanity”.
The students said in a statement that the protests were intended to call on the international community to halt the Israeli attacks on Rafah.
They declared that such protests would continue for three days, during which they would boycott classes.
According to an Al Jazeera report, protestors “want UvA and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) to end their partnerships with Israeli institutions.
In Belgium, some 100 students occupied part of Ghent University (UGent), as reported by Al Jazeera.
Footage shared on social media shows students surrounded by tents chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has to go” in one university building.
Several UGent employees and professors have signed an open letter supporting the protest and condemning the university’s decision to continue research collaboration with Israel.
Students called on the university administration to sever all ties and collaborations with institutions that are complicit, whether directly or indirectly, in the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Students and faculty in the US, Europe and worldwide have mobilized in defense of Palestinian rights.
They have organized sustained protests, demonstrations and encampments on their campuses in direct opposition to university administrations’ relationships with Israeli institutions and investments in corporations that aid and abet Israel’s apartheid and genocide in Gaza.
Israel lobby groups have mounted escalating attacks on students who support Palestinian liberation and have worked with university administrations to crack down on student activism and speech.
......................
End/ 257