On Tuesday afternoon, about two hundred people protested on Broerplein against the actions of the police two weeks ago to remove occupiers from the Academy Building.
The doors to the building were closed today, the wrought-iron gates locked. Before the weekend, the university announced it wouldn’t allow another occupation of the building. But that’s not what the protesters, many of whom were staff members, were there for.
They came to show their solidarity to the students and to make it clear that the police’s actions had been unnecessarily harsh. All speakers repeated the same sentiment: police have no place on campus. The crowd clapped and cheered every single time.
Board should step down
Another sentiment was met with applause and cheers: the demand that the university board step down. According to the protesters, the board is responsible for the violence, since they called in the police.
The protesters feel the board needs to take responsibility. They’ve started a petition, which they say has the support from students and lecturers both from the Netherlands and abroad.
Invitation
The university board was not in attendance to address the protesters. UG spokesperson Elies Kouwenhoven said the university did send an invitation to the protest organisers on Monday.
‘We’d like to talk to them and the police about what happened. Unfortunately, we’ve had no response so far.’