Pro-Palestinian students who, since early May, have been occupying a building on the campus of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) were evacuated from the premises by the police on Tuesday morning, the ULB confirmed to the Belga.
At around 06:30, the occupants posted videos of the eviction in progress on their social media accounts. The videos show a large number of police officers urging the students to leave. The occupiers also called for people to "come and support them". "Repression will not stop us. You are only making our movement and our determination stronger," stressed one of their communications.
By around 08:30, the premises had been completely evacuated. However, around forty students were mobilised in front of the building, and spoke of a "violent eviction", according to a Belga journalist present at the scene. Around ten police officers are camped outside the entrance to the building, and technicians are barricading the windows.
"I woke up to hear doors being kicked in. Some people were beaten and strangled by the police, and computers and telephones were broken during the eviction. We were then all taken into the auditorium, where the police checked our identities", said one student. According to her, the occupants were not given prior notice of the eviction.
However, according to the ULB, the students were not evicted by the police, but "left the premises voluntarily on the basis of the order served on them on Tuesday morning by a bailiff. The bailiff was accompanied by the police, who are present in case of clashes, but fortunately did not have to intervene".
Under the name of "Université populaire de Bruxelles", the student occupation denounces the violence in Gaza and urges the ULB management to "unequivocally break off all forms of collaboration with Zionist academic institutions and companies that participate in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people".
At the end of May, the university's management had announced that it was suspending any agreement or institutional research project involving an Israeli university, until "a clear commitment" was made by the universities concerned "in favour of the demands issued by the International Court of Justice on 24 May."
'Damage committed'
Last week, Rector Annemie Schaus called on the occupiers to vacate the building as soon as possible, saying that the movement was "no longer in line with the ideals that motivated it" and regretting in particular the "damage committed" during several actions. On Friday, however, the students announced that they would be extending their action, believing that their demands had not been fully met."
"Faced with their persistent refusal to leave the premises, we were forced to lodge an application with the Brussels Court of First Instance to end the occupation, as required by law. An order authorising the evacuation was issued and served on the occupants this morning, once again giving them the opportunity to leave the premises voluntarily," insisted the university management.
ULB believes that during the seven weeks of occupation, "it has tried, in vain, to establish a dialogue with the occupiers and to listen to their demands - some of which have been met". However, it says that despite its "efforts to find a negotiated solution, the situation has continued to deteriorate.
In a press release, the student union referred to the "brutality of the eviction", reporting that four people had been injured as a result of the police intervention. "The forces of law and order moved in very quickly, grabbing a fellow student by his shirt and dragging those who didn't move fast enough to the ground with truncheon blows", the student movement explained. They are calling for a rally on Tuesday at 6pm on the university campus to protest against the expulsion.
