With a campus walkout, Nijmegen academics and students are protesting this afternoon against budget cuts in higher education. A group of students is also heading to Utrecht to rally there, even though the initial national action has been canceled.

Now that the “biggest education protest ever” in Utrecht has been canceled at the last minute, an alternative program has been organized in Nijmegen. The Nijmegen organizers of WOinActie are calling for a walkout at 1:00 p.m. in a WhatsApp group with over a thousand members. The plan is for students and staff to leave their buildings and gather at the square next to the Linnaeus building. They are encouraged to bring banners made for the national protest and to wear the WOinActie pins with the recognizable red squares.

At 1:30 p.m., various speeches will be given on-site by representatives of WOinActie, the Executive Board, unions, HAN, researchers, and students. Updates on future actions will also be shared.

Before this, at 12:30 p.m., Radboud Reflects will hold a current affairs lecture at the Lecture Hall Complex. Legal scholar Michiel van Emmerik and historian Paul Reef will delve deeper into the right to protest.

Students going anyway

Despite the cancellation, a group of students will still travel to Utrecht for the protest. Members of AKKU and the National Student Union are calling for this action. On Instagram, they write: “We have the right to protest peacefully against the budget cuts and the long study fine. If this is in any way restricted without clear reason, it’s a violation of the right to demonstrate.” On Thursday morning it became clear that the municipality of Utrecht will facilitate this protest.

The mass protest in Utrecht was called off on Wednesday afternoon by unions AOb and FNV, following urgent advice from mayor Sharon Dijksma. The reason given was that there was specific information about pro-Palestinian demonstrators planning to hijack the protest. In a letter from the mayor to the city council, it was also stated that there were threats of violence.

At least hundreds of demonstrators from Nijmegen were expected to travel to Utrecht. According to the action group WOinActie, the event was shaping up to be the largest in higher education history.

Reactions to the cancellation were ones of shock, particularly from the student union LSVb and the education unions.