It cannot have escaped the reader that a wave of occupations and protests against the genocide in Palestine is now sweeping through the Netherlands. This started on Monday with a small tent camp near a building of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) but has since grown and is therefore receiving increasing attention from the media and the population in general. The demonstrators are demanding an end to the universities' ties with Israeli institutions and monopolies that profit from genocide and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories. More than reasonable positions, however, the demands of students and employees have (for the time being) fallen on deaf ears. In fact, demonstrators are confronted with bizarre police violence. Below we publish a report by CJB [Communist Youth Movement ] member Rafael, who walked with the demonstrators for several days and recorded eyewitness accounts from various comrades.


Walkout and occupation

Back to the beginning of the protest wave: on Tuesday, May 7, a walk-out will take place, organized by various UvA employees. They were extremely shocked by the violent police actions during the eviction of the tent camp on Roeterseiland on the night of May 6. More than a hundred demonstrators were then arrested and the peaceful tent camp was violently dispersed by the police. The solidarity demonstration a day later was therefore well attended, and more than a thousand attendees showed solidarity with the students and the Palestinians for whom they were fighting.

After the demo, the demonstrators walk towards the center of the city, while another group heads towards the Oudemanhuispoort and the Binnengasthuis grounds, two locations of the UvA. Barricades are soon erected there and within a short period the group occupies the building of the Amsterdam Academic Club, part of the previously mentioned locations. The demonstrators are making the same demands as during previous demonstrations: the UvA must break its ties with Israeli institutions and monopolies that benefit from genocide and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories. As the barricades are reinforced, demonstrators shout slogans and there is also a lot of singing. Eyewitnesses speak of a good atmosphere and see that the demonstrators always act peacefully. It soon becomes known that the occupation will not be cleared at night, as was the case on May 6. By order of the police, the demonstrators must be quiet, to take into account the residents in the area and not to disturb their night's sleep. The occupiers are happy to cooperate in this.

As promised, the night passed quietly, and in the morning of May 8 it was announced that negotiations would take place between the demonstrators and the UvA Executive Board. The first round of negotiations comes to nothing, but both camps still see enough prospects for a second attempt, around 4:00 PM that same day. In the meantime, a solidarity demonstration is forming in support of the students and their demands. Hundreds of people come to the Oudemanhuispoort to express their solidarity. The atmosphere is good for a long time.

Eviction and violence against demonstrators

During the day the police presence has remained limited, but from four o'clock onwards the streets and canals are increasingly filled with officers. For example, a shovel is spotted in the area, and nearby Rokin is filling up with vans from the Mobile Unit (ME). While negotiations with the Executive Board are still ongoing, the demonstrators notice how all the streets around the occupied building are filling up with armored riot police. Police boats and officers on jet skis float in the canals. Moreover, the police come out with several dogs, precisely to intimidate the demonstrators.

The protesting students feel unsafe due to the massive police presence. In retrospect, it turns out that the UvA Executive Board itself instructed the police to launch an attack on the demonstrators while negotiations were still in full swing. Protesters shout 'cops off campus', the police must leave the campus. Some demonstrators on both sides of the Oudezijds Achterburgwal try to scare away riot police by walking towards them. This ends badly for a small group: they are surrounded by riot police and beaten up severely. From that moment on, the police announce that the demonstration has been canceled and that the area is being cleared. riot police begin to chase the solidarity demonstrators away from the area and surround them. Because the group has difficulty moving due to the large number of people who have gathered on the narrow streets along the canals, the police beat them with batons.

When the road to the barricades is cleared with great violence against the solidarity demonstrators, the shovels are deployed. A few brave demonstrators jump on the shovels to hinder them, only to be pulled down with great force, after which they are clubbed and arrested by the police. The riot police have now penetrated the barricades and demonstrators are being arrested with great force. They are beaten up, strangled and thrown to the ground.

'Dragged by their hair'

A member of the CJB, MT*, sees it happening up close: “Yesterday, other comrades and I decided to collectively stay in the encampment until the police entered. We wanted to show the party's presence in the camp.” MT continues: “We also thought that the camp could withstand the attack, but it could not. The officers soon broke through several barricades. We barely managed to jump over one of the barricades and join the solidarity demonstrators who were still there. We were the last to do that. After us we saw the police overrun the camp with violence. People were dragged by their hair and knocked to the ground with their hands up.”

Although MT and a number of other comrades managed to jump over the barricade, they were far from safe. “On the other side of the barricade, officers were waiting for us. We were stuck in a small alley with no way out. Because we arrived last, we were closest to the group of officers. They knew we had nowhere to go, but they still hit us repeatedly. We begged them to stop. Our group also included older people from the support demonstration. They too were beaten without mercy. There were shouts from the crowd. People were trampling each other, we were in panic. And the officers kept pushing and hitting. My shoulder was hit five times before the officers finally stopped. Afterwards I didn't have to endure it that hard, some comrades were even hit on their bare heads. When we finally got outside, one of the officers gave me a final blow to the leg as I ran away. We then returned to the others to support the detainees. Even then, officers attacked us without any warning. Right in front of me I saw them smash open a man's skull and wound others."