Police clears Drift 13 after occupation

Once again, the university asked the municipality to evacuate the building. The evacuation procedure began two hours after the building's official closing time. The riot police divided itself into two groups: one stood on Drift with shields, while the other entered the building through the back door.

The occupiers had been there since the morning. A spokesperson for the university said that a group of people with face coverings entered the building and surprised a teacher who was giving information about the university's undergraduate programmes to a prospective student. The activists ordered the teacher and all the prospective students participating in the open day to leave the building. According to the spokesperson, this was intimidating, especially for the teacher.

In the afternoon, UU Vice-President Margot van der Starre talked to several activists. Their meeting was calm, but the parties could not reach an agreement. Van der Starre then started considering other steps to clear the building and the activists announced they would stay until the university boycotted Israeli universities.

The first police warning came at around 7:30 pm. The second followed shortly after. The activists then decided who would stay in the building and who would go outside. A group of 20 people chose to stay in the building, while at least 50 people encouraged the activists to stay, shouting slogans against the police.

The evacuation was relatively calm. The police took the activists to a city bus that was waiting for them. Some let themselves be lifted, while others walked along with the riot police. Things seemed like they would go wrong when some people started sticking stickers on the bus windows: the riot police intervened forcefully and arrested three men.

After the bus left, activists hung around Janskerk and the riot police formed a cordon. But, after a while, things got calm there too.