Wearing an Arafat-style "Kufia" turban and waving a Palestinian "watermelon flag" in their hands, university students from many European countries are taking the baton from American students and taking to the streets to occupy campuses and demand an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza. Since the beginning of May, demonstrations in support of Palestine have erupted in many parts of Europe. Europe has become another center of pro-Palestinian demonstrations after the United States. On the real battlefield, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is marching into Rafah even in the face of threats from US President Joe Biden to cut off arms aid. However, Israeli attacks have killed 35,034 people in Gaza. The population of Israel also lost 1,139 lives. But the voices of protests around the world do not seem to have reached Tel Aviv. At the beginning of May, iWeekly visited and observed the protests in many European countries and restored the protest scene for you.
10,000 people march in Amsterdam
At about 2 p.m. local time on May 11, nearly 10,000 people gathered at Dam Square in the center of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, to participate in local demonstrations in support of Palestine. The parade starts at Dam Square and travels a few kilometres to the Museumplein. There are museums such as the National Museum of the Netherlands and the Van Gogh Museum, which houses famous paintings such as Rembrandt's "Night Watch", Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", and Vermeer's "The Milkmaid". In Museum Square, demonstrators unfurled large Palestinian flags and appealed to local governments and public institutions: a ceasefire, an end to genocide, and "Boycott and Divest" — a call for local public institutions to boycott cooperation with Israel.
According to DutchNews, the march was initiated by the local Palestinian community in Amsterdam, student organizations at universities in Amsterdam, and some left-wing political groups. The Amsterdam police on the scene were mainly concentrated in the vicinity of Museumplein, but there was no significant police presence. Amsterdam police told iWeekly that the march had been filed with the local police station and approved. Along the way there were first aid and support staff wearing fluorescent vests.
"From the river to the sea, Palestine must be liberated." This slogan is often used at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe and elsewhere. This slogan was also frequently used by demonstrators during demonstrations in Amsterdam. However, the controversial nature of the slogan itself has been the eye of the storm for accusations of "anti-Semitism". But in late October, shortly after the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that the slogan fell within the category of "freedom of expression" protection in the Netherlands.
Many people wore arafat-style "kufia" headscarves, some held high the Palestinian flag, and some wore watermelon accessories to express their support for Palestine. Because of its similarity to the Palestinian flag, watermelons have become a symbol of support for demonstrators. The "Kufia" turban is the emblem of the late leader of the Palestine Liberation Movement, Jassir Arafat. In 1993, it was under the leadership of Arafat that Palestine and Israel reached the Oslo Accords, which became one of the basic frameworks for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli issue. It was also in this agreement that the Palestinians and Israelis reached a consensus on the border of the two-state solution: the 1967 border.
The "Occupy Campus" movement faces difficulties in Europe
The demonstrations in Amsterdam on 11 May lasted until 5 p.m. that day. Although the march went relatively well, iWeekly also observed that some of the demonstrators wore masks or covered their faces with headscarves. There were also demonstrators who refused to be photographed. Towards the end of the demonstration, some of the demonstrators who stayed at Museum Square were even attacked by a group of men in black. This reflects the complex status quo of European support for the Palestinian protests.
Unlike American students, who set up tents to occupy campuses, pro-Palestinian protests in Europe have evolved into a tug between schools, students, and even faculty. The march came shortly before the Dutch police dispersed an Occupy campus protest inside the University of Amsterdam. That's why on May 13, students from several universities in the Netherlands began organising a "walkout". However, according to Politico Europe, the event then turned into an Occupy the Campus movement. After the students were dispersed again, the University of Amsterdam announced a 2-day closure.
Shortly before the march in the Netherlands, on May 7, local time, a movement to occupy the campus of the Free University of Berlin in Berlin, the capital of Germany, also took place. At about 1 p.m. on the same day, the faculty and staff of Freie Universität Berlin received an email: "The police are currently conducting a search of the Rost-, Silber- und Holzlaube buildings, which will then be cordoned off. Please notify your employees and schedule them to work from home for the remainder of the time. The Rost-, Silber- und Holzlaube building is the main building of Freie Universität Berlin, where more than half of the university's faculties work and teach. On that day, protesters erected tents inside the university campus in preparation to occupy the school building. At about 3 p.m. that day, the local newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that the police had cleared the movement. It is alleged that the police used pepper spray during the clearance.
In contrast to the situation at Freie Universität Berlin, the protest at the Goethe University in Frankfurt was not dispersed by the police. Gaby, a member of the German Social Democratic Party, took part in the march at the scene. Gaby told iWeekly that the police were just on the sidelines to enforce the law, and the protesters shouted hoarsely at the scene. "This is a typical German protest." According to photos provided by Gaby, the protests in Frankfurt at the time were not in the form of an "occupy campus".
The "anti-Semitism" controversy
Linking up with "anti-Semitism" is a common concern among European public institutions in the face of protest movements. But the criteria for judging what constitutes anti-Semitism vary from country to country. In Germany, the criteria are extremely strict. A group that appeared on social media as the "Berlin Students' Federation" claimed responsibility for the occupation of Freie Universität Berlin. The group is said to be made up of students from various universities in Berlin. The Student Union lists their requirements for the university. These include calls for an end to the "genocide" in the Gaza Strip "by all possible means", as well as a total academic and cultural boycott of Israel and an end to all cooperation with Israeli universities. This group explicitly supports the BDS, Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement. But the movement was denounced as "anti-Semitic" by the German Bundestag in May 2019.
Similarly, a similar occupation took place at Humboldt University in the heart of Berlin. Moty, an international student involved in Humboldt's occupation of the university, told iWeekly that Humboldt's activities were taking place in the courtyard of the university's downtown campus. One hour after the start of the event, the Berlin police quickly opened the fence and closed the scene, so that they could only enter and exit. There were about 20 police officers at the scene. Asked why the school called the police so quickly to clear the site, Moty said: "Under German law, campuses are private territory, and mass protests are theoretically not allowed. Most of the protests that could have been held in schools were because the issues were less sensitive, or similar to the communication and acquiescence at the level of school leadership, otherwise they could theoretically be stopped at any time. ”
A Q&A published on the website of Freie Universität Berlin corroborates Moty's claims. "Demonstrations or similar political activities in an enclosed space within the premises of Freie Universität Berlin theoretically require the approval of Freie Universität Berlin, or at least the authorization of the university," Freie Universität Berlin said. In Berlin, rallies and demonstrations in public places must be registered with the relevant authorities at least 48 hours in advance before advertising can be placed. However, according to Moty, Humboldt and the Free University's activities were not registered or approved by the university.
The "principle of proportionality" became the starting point for criticizing Israel in schools that took a pro-Palestinian stance. The "principle of proportionality" is one of the fundamental principles of international and domestic law, which means that the means by which a State achieves a legitimate goal must be reasonable and rational, and at the same time must not excessively infringe on the protected rights of individuals or other States. On the same day that the Occupy at Freie Universität Berlin took place, the Occupy Campus Movement at the University of Ghent in Belgium also began. Video from the scene shows students and some faculty members participating in the campaign. They call it "Sleepover vs Genocide." In contrast, the Occupy campaign in Ghent was not stopped by the school authorities. Even the day before the occupation began, the rector of Ghent University sent an internal email to staff and students stating that he would investigate cooperation with Israel in accordance with Ghent University's human rights policy and did not want Ghent's international activities to involve human rights violations. "The grave situation in Gaza is a source of emotion. Although the conflict between Israel and Palestine is not a recent occurrence, the human and material losses since the escalation of violence last October have been severe. Israel's response to Hamas's terrorist activities has been disproportionate and accompanied by systematic and widespread human rights violations. ”
(Gaby and Moty are pseudonyms)
iWeekly Weekend Pictorial Exclusive Manuscript, please do not reprint without permission