Pro-Palestine protesters briefly disrupted an Usva and UKrant discussion evening on Thursday where UG president Jouke de Vries was one of the speakers.
Towards the end of the evening, which was about the Internationalisation in Balance Act, the protesters chanted slogans on the pavement of the Usva theatre on Munnekeholm, demanding De Vries’ resignation.
Security guards spoke of a ‘grim situation’ and kept the doors closed, preventing anyone from leaving the cultural student centre. The police were called in, but they did not have to act. After just under half an hour, the protesters left on their own.
By that time, De Vries and NSC MP Rosanne Hertzberger, also one of the speakers during the evening, had already been escorted out of the building by security personnel.
‘Police violence’
The protesters hold De Vries responsible for what they call ‘police violence’ when they occupied a UG building on Oude Boteringestraat last week after a protest march through the city centre.
A few hours later, the police and the municipality of Groningen ended the tent camp on Harmonieplein. The protesters had already left the camp by then, and according to the municipality, there was ‘no eviction but a cleanup.’