Palestine protest broken up
Police declare occupation of Humboldt University over
May 23, 2024, 10:21 p.m
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Pro-Palestinian activists occupied rooms at an institute at Berlin’s Humboldt University on Wednesday. At first they are tolerated. The police then announced that they wanted to clear the area. Some of the squatters leave voluntarily, others are deported.
The police have completed the evacuation of the occupied Humboldt University building in Berlin. According to initial information, a total of around 150 activists were in the building, as police spokeswoman Beate Ostertag said. Some of the activists left voluntarily, others were taken away by the police. A demonstration on the edge of the formerly occupied building was dispersed afterwards – the police announced over loudspeakers that there was no reason for the demonstrators to stay.
The Humboldt University had previously declared that the institute, which was occupied by pro-Palestinian activists, would be evacuated by the police if necessary. “We now have confirmation from Humboldt University to vacate the occupied institute,” the police said on X. “All people will be approached, escorted out of the building and subjected to an identity check. If people refuse, our emergency services will enforce the measures by force.” According to the police, the emergency services entered the occupied institute “to get an overview”. “To do this, some rooms have to be opened by force because people have barricaded them.”
The university ordered the evacuation under pressure from the Berlin Senate, said university president Julia von Blumenthal. “Then the order came from the very top to end the occupation. I followed this order,” she said. Von Blumenthal had previously declared that he would tolerate the occupation of the rooms by pro-Palestinian activists until 6 p.m. According to a reporter, around 20 activists were escorted out of the occupied building in the evening. The police spoke of two groups who had left the building voluntarily. Their identities were to be established.
President: Dialogue was a good step
In view of the eviction, President von Blumenthal expressed her regret that no agreement had been reached. “I’m not sure if it would have succeeded, but I had the impression that we made a good step with this dialogue,” she said after talks with the pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied the building. It was possible, with a moderator, to talk with mutual respect “about things where we might even be able to get closer and also to talk about what separates us.” It was also possible to listen to the suffering of the Palestinian students. Of course, she always had the suffering of Jewish students in mind.
There was sometimes strong criticism of the behavior of Blumenthals and the university management as a whole. Universities are “not lawless spaces for anti-Semites and terror sympathizers,” said Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner. The protests are directed against the Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, but also against the Israeli state as a whole.
The police announced in the afternoon that the demonstrators had been assigned a new meeting area a little further away from the university buildings. Some demonstrators in front of the occupied building were forced there, sometimes using force.
Accusation of anti-Semitism
The police also announced that there had been, among other things, damage to property in the occupied institute building. In addition, anti-Semitic and inflammatory statements had been made by demonstrators. Investigations have been launched into this. On Wednesday, the activists occupied rooms at the HU, and around 100 of them spent the night at the university, according to the activists. According to police, it is still unclear how many were still in the building that evening.
The occupiers of the group called Student Coalition accused Israel of “genocide” and “ongoing mass murders” in a statement. It’s about “unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people.” The group also called on the university to undertake a “complete academic and cultural boycott of Israel.” The university management should accept their occupation and presence and prohibit police intervention.
The Humboldt University is one of the three major universities in the German capital, alongside the Free University (FU) and the Technical University (TU). An occupation of the FU premises by the group Student Coalition Berlin was recently cleared by the police. Pro-Palestinian protests, some in the form of camps, have recently taken place not only at universities in Berlin.
Central Council criticizes students
The President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, has sharply criticized the anti-Israel actions at Berlin universities. It is not a “student movement,” he wrote in a guest article for the Tagesspiegel. “It’s not about co-determination at universities, about emancipation against an authoritarian teaching staff; it’s not an anti-war movement. There is no internal contradiction that the occupiers have to endure; their hatred of Israel is obvious, they use one language and symbolism that calls for the murder of Jews.”
The media image of mostly young people is “crazy,” said Schuster. “They are not ‘pro-Palestinian’ and have not been protesters for a long time. They are driven by their hatred of Israel. Jewish students and teachers are not safe from them. They reject the values of an open and free society that our constitution guarantees us, which is why we celebrate her so much these days. She is considered weak.”