Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied a university building on the Drift in Utrecht in the early evening on Wednesday. A banner hangs on the balcony of the building, Drift 25, with the text: “It’s time UU, boycott Israeli apartheid”. Doors within the building are barricaded.
Earlier during the occupation, journalists were still able to enter the building, but this changed during the evening; demonstrators at the entrance say that journalists are not allowed to enter the building at this time. The police are present at the Drift and watch from a distance.
The chairman of the Executive Board of Utrecht University, Anton Pijpers, entered into discussions with the demonstrators around 9:45 p.m. It was, among other things, about the demands of the demonstrators.
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The activists gathered at the Academy Building on Domplein on Wednesday afternoon, saying they were in solidarity with the group of demonstrators who occupied the courtyard of the University Library in Utrecht on Tuesday. The demonstrators later moved from Domplein to Drift, where they entered the university building at number 25.
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Shortly afterwards, demonstrators rolled down a banner from the balcony. People who were in the building when the demonstrators entered were given the opportunity to pack their belongings inside. The demonstrators say that inside is a ‘liberated zone’. “We will not allow police inside,” it was announced.
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The demonstrators demand that Utrecht University cut ties with Israeli universities. That’s why there was one on Tuesday demonstration at the University Library. The police decided to intervene at the end of the evening. It is not clear whether the police will do that again on Wednesday.
Tags: ProPalestinian demonstrators occupy university building Utrecht
