Dutch police have violently broken up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam, arresting at least 125 students.
The Dutch public broadcaster NOS said the riot police cleared the encampment, where the protesters had formed barricades from wooden pallets and bicycles, in the early hours of Tuesday. Video from the scene showed the police using a mechanical digger to push down barricades and beating the demonstrators with batons.”
In messages posted on social media platform X, police claimed that their action was “necessary to restore order.” “We see the footage on social media. We understand that those images may appear as intense,” it added, saying it was “necessary.”
Outgoing Dutch education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said universities are a place for dialogue and added that he was sad to see that police had to intervene.
Pro-Palestine protesters had set up the camp, urging the University of Amsterdam to break its ties with Israel because of the regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the United States and around the world, with the participants calling for colleges to divest from companies that support the Israeli regime.
Israel unleashed its U.S.-backed Gaza onslaught on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a surprise operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,789 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 78,204 others.
