Police on site

Pro-Palestine demonstration: Berlin’s Humboldt University evacuated

(Bild: AP)

One day after the occupation of parts of Berlin's Humboldt University by pro-Palestinian activists, the university has ordered the evacuation - under pressure from the Senate. The order had come from the very top, said the president, Julia von Blumenthal, on Thursday evening. Police in the German capital initially escorted out the people who wanted to leave the building voluntarily.

Locked and partially barricaded doors were forcibly opened by the police, said police spokeswoman Beate Ostertag. A short time later, the police declared the evacuation complete. According to initial information from the officers, there were around 150 activists in the building.

Activists called for "solidarity with the Palestinian people"
The demonstrators had occupied the university premises on Wednesday in protest against Israel and in support of the Palestinians. In a statement, the occupiers from the group called Student Coalition Berlin accused Israel of "genocide" and "ongoing mass murders". It is about "unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people". Among other things, they are calling on Berlin universities to campaign for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and to exert pressure on the German government. The German government should impose an arms embargo on Israel and end all military, financial and diplomatic aid to Israel.

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In view of the evacuation, President von Blumenthal expressed her regret that no agreement had been reached. "I'm not sure if it would have succeeded, but I had the impression that we had taken a good step with this dialog," she said after talks with the pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied the building. "The order then came from the very top to end the occupation. I followed this instruction," she said. She was referring to the governing mayor Kai Wegner from the CDU, as she explained when asked.

University sought talks
Blumenthal said of the talks with the activists that it had been possible, with moderation and mutual respect, "to talk about where we could perhaps even come closer together and also to talk about what divides us." It was also possible to listen to the suffering of the Palestinian students. Of course, she always had the suffering of Jewish students in mind as well.

Videos on social networks show the occupation of Humboldt-Universität:

On Thursday evening, the atmosphere at the university was heated, as a dpa reporter observed. Banners were hanging on the building, including one that read "Free Palestine". In the courtyard behind a fence stood and sat several dozen squatters, some of them covered in Palestinian scarves. They chanted "Viva Palestine" and "Yallah Intifada". Intifada refers to a series of attacks and terrorist attacks by Palestinians in Israel and is also interpreted as a call for violence. According to the activist spokeswoman, around 100 squatters had spent the night in the institute. The university had tolerated the occupation until 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Mayor: "Act consistently"
The governing mayor Kai Wegner had stated on Platform X in the afternoon that he expected Humboldt-Universität to "take responsibility and act consistently now. Teaching must continue! Our universities are places of knowledge and critical discourse - and not lawless spaces for anti-Semites and terror sympathizers".

Criticism also came from the police union. "The autonomy of teaching applies, and universities in particular should be regarded as places of exchange and discussion," said the spokesperson for the state association, Benjamin Jendro. However, this is not a legitimate basis for acting outside the democratic framework, shouting anti-Semitic and inhumane slogans, holding up anti-constitutional posters and damaging property.

Repeated actions at universities
The conflict in the Middle East has now reached German universities. There are repeated protests against Israel's actions in the Gaza war and actions by students in solidarity with the Palestinians. An occupation at the Free University of Berlin a few weeks ago was broken up by the police.

In the English university city of Oxford, police arrested 16 people during a protest. According to a BBC report, it was a sit-in by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Officers had visited a university square on Thursday morning, the police said. It had previously been reported that demonstrators had gained access to a private office in one of the buildings.