Defence Minister chased away from the University of Amsterdam

Brekelmans (VVD) was going to answer questions from University of Amsterdam students as part of the debate programme Room for Discussion. However, demonstrators outside the hall made so much noise that it was hard to understand what he was saying. After fifteen minutes, he was taken off the stage by security guards, according to Folia. 

UvA President Edith Hooge calls it a "low point" that a group of students and staff behaved so threateningly that the interview with the minister had to be cancelled. "The open and free debate has been sabotaged."

Freedoms
When the minister left the stage, cheers rose from the demonstrators. They shouted slogans like “Free Palestine”. The interview took place on Roeterseiland, the University of Amsterdam campus, the stage of regular pro-Palestinian protests last year.

Brekelmans said on X that he had wanted to talk to students about international security. "One should be able to openly exchange ideas at a university. Unfortunately, this has been made impossible. Defending these freedoms is precisely the job of the Minister of Defence."

Previous episodes of Room for Discussion were also disrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, such as the one with the Mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema. The interview with Brekelmans' predecessor, Kajsa Ollongren, was cancelled twice for security reasons before it finally took place.

Edith Hooge has had enough. "This must stop," she says on LinkedIn. "Attendees have been intimidated, our security guards have been beaten. This is unacceptable. We will file a police report tomorrow."