Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupy Drift 25

Pro-Palestine protesters entered UU's building at Drift 25 at around 9:00 am on Tuesday. The university's spokesperson estimates that about twenty protesters are in the building. They have covered the cameras in the building and are not allowing security guards to enter.

The university has informed them of the rules and responsibilities they must follow during occupations. These rules state, among other things, that education and research must not be seriously disrupted by the occupation and that the safety and health of everyone in the building must be “guaranteed at all times”. The university's security personnel must have access to the building to conduct this assessment. There must also be no violence, vandalism, discrimination, hate speech or other criminal offences.

The university is not intervening for the time being. The spokesperson says: "We have shared the new rules and responsibilities with the occupiers, and these include several conditions that they are not complying with. This is an educational building. A lecture could not take place this morning, and the timetable had to be changed significantly. We have not taken any measures yet, and we do not want to prejudge which measures can be used."

Boycott
The protesters have named the building after Maryam Abu Daqqa, a Palestinian photojournalist who was killed by Israel this summer. This is the third time that protesters have occupied Drift 25. The building was also occupied in May 2024 and again in June 2025. The protesters demand that UU sever all ties with Israeli institutions.

In May 2025, the university decided that it would no longer enter into new partnerships with Israel. Rector Wilco Hazeleger refers to this decision as “a boycott”, which is a sore point for the protesters. After all, UU still maintains ten projects with Israeli institutions. UMC Utrecht also has ten partnerships with Israel. The movement behind the occupation, UU Encampment, writes on Instagram: “By reframing the status quo as a 'boycott', the rector distorts reality and whitewashes the Board’s complacency in the face of genocide. If this university claims to be boycotting 'Israeli' institutions, UU must do more.”