Six pro-Palestine demonstrators, including some students and one or more Radboud University employees, have spent a night in jail on suspicion of vandalism. Other protesters claim the six had nothing to do with it.

Six persons were removed from a city bus near the railway station yesterday afternoon and detained by police on suspicion of vandalism on campus. Among them are purportedly several students and also one employee of Radboud University, according to multiple sources.

Earlier that morning, a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators vandalised Theatre Hall C in the Elinor Ostrom building. A university spokesperson could not say exactly what was destroyed and what the damage was. ‘Security found a group of people wearing face-covering garments in Theatre Hall C on Monday. Presumably someone had forced the door to enter the hall, since it was locked.’

‘The security guards asked the group what they were doing there, in response to which the slogan ‘Free, free Palestine‘ was chanted,’ he continues. After security guards also observed evidence of vandalism in the theatre hall, the group of protesters fled outside through the emergency exit, following which the police were called in, according to the spokesperson.

Still stuck

The six were still detained at the police station around noon today. A police spokesman confirmed that yesterday ‘following the report (from the university, ed.), after noon six persons were detained in a city bus on suspicion of open assault on property.’ The police was unable to share more information. ‘The investigation into exactly what happened, the involvement of these individuals and any others who were involved is ongoing.’

However, the arrest is unjustified, claims the Nijmegen Student Encampment, the pro-Palestine action group on campus. The persons arrested allegedly had nothing to do with the acts of vandalism. The six supposedly came to attend another – official – demonstration that was supposed to take place on the lawn next to the Maria Montessori building, but was cancelled at the last moment by the organisers due to the presence of police on campus.

Protest action

That is why today around 11:30 a.m., some 30 protesters gathered in front of the police station on Stieltjesstraat in Nijmegen. They made as much noise as possible with pans, pots, and whistles, as a show of support for the six persons arrested.

They also sprayed the ‘Free Gaza’ slogan on the ground, in response to which some officers came out and asked them to remove it.

‘No, these are not the same people’

Shortly before noon, the group relocated to the railway station, to Platform 1 to be precise, which is adjacent to the back of the police station, where the cell complexes are, and where the detainees could possibly hear the protesters’ slogans, such as ‘You are not alone!‘.

Video footage of the arrest has since been shared thousands of times on social media. A handful of officers can be seen standing around and inside a city bus near Nijmegen railway station. There are six protesters on the bus, wearing keffiyehs. In somewhat clumsy English, some officers explained that the six were being detained because a report of vandalism had been made by the university.

Shocked

Sermin Sahin, spokesperson for the Nijmegen Student Encampment, said she was shocked by the arrests. ‘The people removed from the bus had nothing to do with the occupation earlier that day – the organisers of the demonstration knew nothing about it. These were the very students who cancelled the planned demonstration for fear of possible arrest.’

‘We were standing with a group in front of the office of student union AKKU talking afterwards,’ she continues. ‘Some people in the group then went home by bus. Or at least… they tried to. But at the station, the police pulled over the bus and detained them.’

Did the persons arrested not include any of the protesters who were involved in the occupation earlier that day? Sahin: ‘No, these are not the same people. There are also lecturers from the university who can testify that these students were elsewhere during the occupation action.’

How it could happen in that case that these people were removed from the bus remains unclear. Multiple sources report that the group was identified by ‘employees from the Elinor Ostrom building’. Exactly who they these employees are is unknown. The university spokesperson and police would not respond to questions about a possible confusion.

The university is planning to press charges for vandalism.