Police have arrived at the Thomas van Aquinostraat 1, which students had occupied since Wednesday afternoon. The building, where walls were heavily smeared with red paint and firehoses had been opened, has since been emptied. Later in the evening, the initial encampment next to the Maria Montessori was also cleared.

‘Free Palestine!’ Next to the Thomas van Aquinostraat 1, close by the tent camp of the activists on the Nijmegen campus, the usual slogans are being chanted right now. The protesters have moved their tents to the building’s hallways and courtyard.

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The entrance and exit points of the building have been barricaded with pallets and furniture. No one is being let inside anymore. On multiple floors, firehoses were set off. Graffiti was sprayed on different spots, and on two floors, walls were smeared with red paint.

Camp

The Thomas van Aquinostraat 1 is a building where offices of multiple campus organisations, including the ICT in education and the Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre, are located. The building also houses lecture halls and the Vox editorial office.

On social media, the activists had announced that they would be ‘reorganising’ the camp today. Protesters and sympathetic bystanders were asked to meet at the encampment at 4 p.m.

Huygens building

Shortly after, groups of activists left for different spots on campus. Twenty protesters moved to the Huygens building to chant slogans and throw flyers from one of the upper floors. Dean Sijbrand de Jong tried unsuccessfully to talk to them.

‘They say that the Executive Board isn’t listening, but that’s a lie,’ he told Vox afterward. ‘There have been god knows how many meetings about how to proceed further. The protesters simply do not want to hear what we have to say.’ He considers the protests in his building a disruption of education and research.

Meanwhile, another group of protesters carried tents into the Thomas van Aquinostraat. Employees were asked to leave the building.

At around 21:00, dozens of protesters suddenly left the building, carrying some tents. The damage to the building is considerable.

Police arrives

An hour later, at around 22:15, a large number of police officers arrived at the camp next to the Maria Montessori. Some of the officers entered the Thomas van Aquinostraat 1. No-one is taken out of the building. One man was, however, taken by police after he shouted at them. It is unclear whether he was arrested. The police also removed the tents in the courtyard.

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‘Unworthy of Radboud University’

The executive board said through a spokesperson that they were ‘deeply indignant about the occupation and vandalism’, describing the behaviour as ‘unworthy of Radboud University.’

‘The group (of protesters, ed.) set up tents in the courtyard of the building, placed barricades in front of the doors, turned on fire hoses and applied numerous graffiti to the building,’ the spokesperson lists. ‘These were acts unacceptable to Radboud University.’

Building searched

For security reasons, the police, following the exit of the protesters, searched the building room by room, according to the spokesperson. ‘Police found an apparently abandoned building with complete havoc inside.’ As a result, educational activities at the TvA 1 are on hold for the upcoming days. ‘It will be a lot of work to restore the building and make it usable again,’ so the spokesperson.

After this, the police initially slowly retreated from campus. But, shortly before midnight, took action again: riot police units armed with sticks and shields walked towards the encampment next to the Maria Montessori and surrounded it.

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The encampment is being cleared by order of the mayor. ‘You have five minutes to remove all tents and leave,’ they announce. The police states that they will use force if protesters do not comply.

(This article has been updated multiple times and is a developing story.)