In the Netherlands, Germany and France, police break up student demonstrations in support of the Palestinians

Israel launched a war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the terrorists carried out a massacre in Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages.

At the University of Amsterdam, police this morning dispersed protesters who had refused to leave and demolished their tents. Also at the Free University of Berlin, the police demolished a protest camp in the courtyard, where up to 80 people had gathered today. The protesters initially sat peacefully at their tents, but later tried to enter the school premises and lecture halls. The university management called the police, who dispersed the protesters.

The Free University of Berlin said property was damaged and classes in several buildings were suspended for the day. Berlin police announced that they had arrested several people for inciting hatred and trespassing.

In France, police arrived twice today at the Paris Institute of Political Science (“Sciences Po”) to disperse about 20 students who had barricaded themselves in the university’s great hall. The Paris prosecutor’s office said police intervened to ensure other students could take the exams and arrested two people. The university later announced that the exams went off without incident.

In recent weeks, the police have come to Sciences Po several times, where protesters are demanding that the school reveal exactly what contracts it has with Israeli authorities. About 13 students have gone on hunger strike, the school said.

Also in Switzerland yesterday and today there were protests in several universities. At the University of Lausanne, several hundred students occupied the hall on Thursday, demanding to end the partnership with Israeli universities. The University of Lausanne said it saw no reason to end the relationship.

Protests also took place today at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where a group of students occupied a university hall but dispersed in the afternoon, and at the University of Geneva, where students barricaded themselves in the hall with chairs and tables around lunchtime.

At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, dozens of students protested in the entrance hall, where they unrolled a poster reading “No technology for genocide” on the floor. The police then took them away.

Clashes briefly broke out between pro-Palestinians and pro-Israeli supporters in Amsterdam on Monday night. Demonstrators blocked several roads leading to the university, but police broke up the protest to allow emergency services access.

Several students pelted police with stones and firecrackers when they tried to break up the demonstration. More than 120 people were detained.

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