Clashes broke out on Wednesday between police and protestors at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) over demands that the institution sever ties with Israel due to its military operation in Gaza.
Local channel AT5 showed images of dozens of riot police arresting protestors, amid a rising tide of demonstrations across Europe, following similar developments in the United States.
“The police are starting to clear the barricades that have been set up on the site,” the Amsterdam police said on the platform X (formerly Twitter), adding that the clearance was authorised by the city’s mayor.
The police also clarified that the UvA had filed a complaint regarding public order violations and property damage.
They also stated that the demonstrators were not exclusively students, with individuals “not affiliated with the university (…) deliberately seeking conflict with the police.”
Talks between the UvA administration and protest organisers yielded no results on Wednesday, according to protestors who spoke to public media NOS.
AT5 captured footage of police arresting some protestors and using diggers to push stone and pallet barricades into a nearby canal.
The protestors had occupied another area of the campus on Monday afternoon but were forcibly removed early on Tuesday, resulting in approximately 140 arrests.
Finally, an emergency debate about the ongoing protests is scheduled for Friday at the Amsterdam municipal council.
University staff have written a statement on Thursday to the board, calling out its decision to call the police on students and condemn the disproportionately violent actions of the police, which "make a mockery" of claims of safety on campus.
