The national protest against higher education budget cuts, which was scheduled for Thursday in Utrecht, has been cancelled. A pro-Palestinian organisation was reportedly planning to hijack the demonstration.
Caught off guard
The Utrecht mayor, police, and Public Prosecution Service received ‘concrete information’ about such a plan, with indications that violence might be involved. Based on their advice, the organisers decided to call off the protest due to concerns that participant safety could not be sufficiently guaranteed.
Trade union FNV said in a statement that it was caught off guard by the developments. There were no concrete safety concerns so far. ‘That situation has now changed. We feel terrible that all those students, teachers and staff who wanted to take action tomorrow are now unable to make their voices heard.’
Organize the RUG, which is coordinating the action in Groningen, is also saddened that the Utrecht demonstration has been canceled. The organization states that demonstrations should only be canceled ‘in extremely exceptional cases of highly credible threats to the safety of demonstrators’ and that safety concerns are too often used as a way to silence demonstrators.
Groningen demonstration will go ahead
Many students and staff from Groningen had planned to travel to Utrecht. Organize the UG had rented three buses to transport 180 people to Utrecht. The entire executive board of the University of Groningen was also planning to participate in the march.
The solidarity demonstration in Groningen will still take place. It was initially scheduled to be held at 1:00 PM in front of the Academy Building but has been moved to the Grote Markt after discussions with the city council.