Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Open Days with occupation

"Hey new students, all Dutch universities support genocide," says a banner hanging on Friday morning at Drift 13, a building used by the Faculty of Humanities. It houses the Data School and other activities.

The group UU Encampment claims to have occupied the building this morning at 9:30 am. They say this is "the first liberated sun of the academic year." Sympathisers are standing in front of the building.

On Friday and Saturday, prospective students would obtain more information about UU's Bachelor's programmes at UU's Open Days, which were to be held in that building. Those activities can no longer take place there.

A spokesperson for UU Encampment says that the protest aims to tell prospective students "that the university has ties with institutions that support a regime guilty of genocide." In the protesters' view, "students must know what UU does and what they are signing up for."

Once again, the university is being called upon to break its relationship with Israeli universities. "We will remain in the building until that happens."