Pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campuses across Europe almost immediately after the events of October 7 and the beginning of the war. However, in the past week, what were previously sporadic gatherings, with only dozens of demonstrators, have transformed into organized, funded and violent mass protests involving hundreds of students.
In Berlin, demonstrators seized control of the inner courtyard of the Freie Universität (Free University) of Berlin and erected tent cities, surrounded by a makeshift fence. Hundreds of protesters covered their faces with masks, draped keffiyehs around their necks, and chanted slogans in support of Palestine and intifada, and against Israel.
After attempts to engage in dialogue with the protesters failed, university authorities suspended classes and called the police. The police asked the protesters to disperse, and when they refused, forcibly removed them using tear gas, with skirmishes breaking out between police and protesters.
"This is not a protest aimed at dialogue," said university president Gunther Ziegler. "We will not tolerate an attempt to occupy the university."
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Student protesters on the Free University campus in Berlin
(Photo: AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
According to the university, the protesters attempted to storm and seize lecture halls unsuccessfully. The composition of the demonstrators included university students, students from other universities, and other external factors. The university is identified as being pro-Palestinian, with many professors openly expressing such sentiments.
At Amsterdam University, police used force to detain 125 students out of hundreds who set up a protest tent encampment on campus, demanding an end to cooperation with Israel. Videos documenting the events showed significant violence by the protesters, mainly Muslims, toward Jewish students nearby, followed by intense clashes between the police and the demonstrators. The same protesters refused to disperse. After the confrontations, police closed the area and dispersed the protest.
In Finland, dozens of students erected a protest tent camp in front of the main building of the University of Helsinki, demanding the university terminate all academic ties with Israel. Like the tent protests in Amsterdam and Berlin, and on campuses in New York and elsewhere in the United States, the tents in Helsinki had a uniform appearance, suggesting external organization and funding for the protests.
Similarly, at Copenhagen University, a protest camp of dozens of tents was set up demanding an end to academic ties with Israel and the termination of investments and collaborations with companies doing business with West Bank settlers. Students in Oslo joined the Scandinavian protest.
In Rome, Naples and Bologna in Italy, protest tent camps were set up across campuses over the weekend with similar demands of university administrations. In Spain, after a tent protest began at the University of Valencia over the weekend, student protests spread on Tuesday to Barcelona and the Basque region, with student organizations announcing a similar protest to start soon in Madrid. In Lausanne, Switzerland, students set up a protest tent camp inside the faculty at the Federal Institute of Technology. Tent protests against Israel and the Gaza war also emerged at universities across France and Britain.