This afternoon, roughly sixty pro-Palestine protesters walked from the HAN to the lawn next to the Maria Montessori building, which until a few weeks ago was the site of a camp. Protests have been banned from campus at the moment, yet security personnel did not intervene.

Between sixty and seventy protesters gathered on the Kappitelweg this afternoon around 17:30, in front of the HAN building. The protesters themselves referred to it as an anti-genocide protest.

During the brief walk on the Heyendaalseweg they shouted phrases like ‘What do we want? Liberation! When do we want it? Now!’ and ‘What will we do if they don’t listen? Shut the uni down.’

The protest moved on to the Radboud University campus. The students stopped on the lawn next to the Maria Montessori building, which was the site of the protesters’ camp until a few weeks ago. Several protesters grabbed a bullhorn to speak to the crowd.

Today’s event was in direct violation of the restrictions imposed by mayor Hubert Bruls earlier this month. According to those restrictions, protests are only allowed on campus on the parking lot next to the Elinor Ostrom building. However, Radboud security staff made no move to interfere with the protest; neither was there any police presence. The protest was over after forty-five minutes.

Unacceptable

‘Through this protest, we want to question the weird restrictions imposed on us by the municipality’, according to protest spokesperson Ties. ‘We will not be silenced. We wanted to show that the Gaza genocide is unacceptable, and that the University should take action, especially regarding their ties with Israeli universities. We are still here, and we will protest whenever we see fit.’

Translated by Jasper Pesch