Students organise alternative protests against cutbacks

4:00 pm - Moreelsepark

The demonstration has ended. All demonstrators are back in the Moreelsepark. The march was peaceful, while various groups with different interests participated. The demonstrators agreed to meet again on November 25 at Malieveld, The Hague. This demonstration is organised by several trade unions from the education sector.

It is difficult to say exactly how many people participated. At one point, the entire Lange Nieuwstraat was full, while the tail end of the procession was still on Zadelstraat. The march also went at a snail's pace. More people joined halfway through it. DUB estimated 3,000 people, but others say there were many more.

The students in the WhatsApp groups are satisfied. They have proven that one can demonstrate peacefully and in the thousands, side by side with people with a different message. The mayor has some explaining to do, says a participant.

3:25 pm - Various slogans heard, from "Class struggle" to "Free Palestine" to "Studying is a right" 

The slogans shouted in this protest march vary. Slogans about Palestine predominate at the front of the procession, which now counts about 3000 people, but people at the back chant slogans about education and class differences. The atmosphere is calm and peaceful.

3:00 pm - Through the Dom Tower

After a few speeches at Moreelsepark, the demonstrators head to the Dom Tower just after 2:00 pm. Most of them are students, although teachers also participate in the march. The march has been prohibited, but the police say they will not prevent it. The protesters are shouting: "Fight, fight, studying is a right!" Streets have been blocked. The march passes under the Dom Tower towards Langenieuwstraat. Pro-Palestine demonstrators are present as well, arguing that the money that is being taken away from higher education will go to defence and, therefore, to Israel.

Members of the University Council are participating in the march. At a certain point, an elderly man opens his front door to show students a newspaper clipping about a student protest from 1966, in which he participated. 

2:30 pm - City centre

2:30 pm - Utrecht Science Park

UU employees gather in front of the Administration Building at Utrecht Science Park, after watching the livestream together in the Langeveld building. They have spent the morning making signs that they plan to take to the next demonstration, which will be held on November 25 in The Hague. Researchers, university lecturers and junior lecturers are all angry about the cutbacks, citing increased workloads and the risk of redundancies. One of the teachers says this is also a "cutback on critical voices."

Meanwhile, employees of the Faculties of Science and Geosciences gather in the Minnaert building after watching the livestream. 

FNV furious at the mayor

Trade union FNV, one of the organisers of the original protest, does not understand why Utrecht Mayor Sharon Dijksma did not ban this afternoon's student demonstration at Moreelsepark. FNV writes in a press release that the mayor "put a knife to the unions' throats yesterday", forcing them to call off the "official" protest against the cuts to the higher education budget. "The fact that there now appears to be room for another demonstration is inexplicable. (...) Our members do not know where they stand due to this erratic policy."

2:15 pm - House of Representatives

The people who were supposed to speak onstage at Dom Square give their speeches in a room at the House of Representatives instead. The speakers are all angry at the mayor's decision as she banned the demonstration without explaining where exactly the threat had come from. A few parties also manifest their opposition to the cuts to the higher education budget, offering the protest's organisers the floor. The entire session is livestreamed.

At the end, the attendees sing a protest song written especially for today. It is a parody of the Italian protest song Bella Ciao. The lyrics are in Dutch, the text below is just a translation:

Minister Bruins
Don't tell lies
Say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye
To 1,001 teachers
Because you are firing them

See that lecturer?
That specialist?
Say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye
Because they are packing their bags
Farewell knowledge, say goodbye

Those who do not want to sow
Will not reap later
Say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye
To prosperity and innovation
The future will be a hard blow

So, dear Eppo
Stop scrapping
Say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye
The damage is Eppocalyptic
Clear as day

Think more carefully about the future

The municipal council asks for further explanation about negative advice

Six parties in the municipal council state that they are shocked that the demonstration cannot go ahead. PvdA, GroenLinks, ChristenUnie, Student en Starter, Volt and EenUtrecht all regret the course of events and stress the importance of the right to demonstrate. "This leads to concerns and many questions," according to the parties. At the same time, they do not want to judge the situation too quickly. "First, we'll wait for the municipal government to explain this further."

1:50 pm - Moreelsepark, Utrecht

Around 2,000 people are gathered at Moreelseprak. The several organisations behind the demonstration are giving their speeches. They say they are there for two reasons: to protest the cuts to the higher education budget and to defend the right to demonstrate.

Linda Huistra, a former member of the National Student Union (LSVb) and now a member of a Palestine-focused group within FNV, says she is a first-generation student and qualified the budget cuts as "shitty." The socialists from Red add that the student struggle is a class struggle. "I don't want to be violent but we should occupy the streets."

LSVb's chair then talks about the government's plan to introduce a fine for students who take longer than one additional year to graduate. He says that the proposal to increase tuition fees for everyone instead of a 3,000-euro fine only for those who graduate late is not a good idea. Instead, he stands for fair and just policies for students. "They are the consciousness of our country."

The audience chants the slogan: "Fight, fight, fight. Studying is a right!"

1:30 pm - Law building at Achter de Sint Pieter 200

People watching the livestream together at Law School. 

1:15 pm - House of Representatives

Professor Ingrid Robeyns is in the House of Representatives preparing for her speech. You can watch it through this livestream link. Her speech is part of the alternative protest organised by the trade unions FNV and AOb against the austerity measures hitting higher education and research. FNV and AOb were forced to cancel the demonstration after the municipality of Utrecht, the police, and the public prosecutor's office called for a cancellation citing that pro-Palestine protestors were planning to join the march and use violence. The livestream starts at 1:30 pm. 

1:15 pm - Johanna Huddig Building

Bald De Vries leads a conversation at the Faculty of Law, more precisely in the Johanna Huddig building, ahead of the livestream. Lawyers are shocked by the mayor's decision. They express their frustration and raise questions about the police's security measures and whether or not the decision to cancel the demonstration was proportionate. 

They find the decision hard to understand, considering the municipality hasn't provided much information about the threats of violence from activists for Palestine. According to Bald de Vries, municipal council members have asked the mayor, Sharon Dijksma, to clarify why the demonstration cannot go ahead. At ASP 200, a call is made to remain united. The fact that the demonstration has been cancelled should not be a reason to divide the university community.

1:19 pm - Protests in other cities

Local protests are taking place in several cities across the Netherlands today. In Leiden, protesters sang Eppo Ciao, a parody of Becky G's song Bella Ciao targeting the Dutch Minister of Education, Eppo Bruins.

12:54 pm - UU also asks students and employees not to demonstrate

On UU's website, the Executive Board “emphatically” asks students and employees not to respond to calls to demonstrate this afternoon. The message aims “to ensure everyone’s safety”.

The Executive Board also expressed its disappointment regarding the mayor’s decision to cancel the demonstration. The board members “feel terrible for the many students and colleagues who were ready to protest against the drastic cutbacks”. Nevertheless, the university vows to continue to strive against the austerity measures.

Noon: City centre library 

UU students and employees also make banners and protest signs at the city centre library and other places across the university. This banner is a protest against the closure of the German, French and Italian programmes.

9:00 am - Celtic programme starts the day with a mini-lecture and making protest signs

The Bachelor's programme in Celtic Languages ​​& Culture, which is threatened with closure, organised a meeting for its students and lecturers at 9:00 am. A mini-lecture was given on protests in medieval Ireland, after which students could make protest signs.

There is still a lot of uncertainty in the air about what is going to happen today. "We'll see how it goes," says lecturer Lars Nooij. "We still need the protest signs, maybe sooner than expected." Students and lecturers are disappointed that the demonstration is not going ahead.

"I really felt it," says university lecturer Nike Stam. "We've been looking forward to it for a long time. The demonstration was supposed to be unprecedented. Some scientists are reluctant to attend demonstrations, but this time was different. It is so disappointing that it got cancelled a day in advance."

Asterix, the Celtic study association, announced in a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday that it will not be participating in the demonstration this afternoon at Moreelsepark and Dom Square. “The fact that some student unions have decided to protest does not change the matter for us, since the mayor, the university and the organisations that were behind the demonstration have cancelled the protest.”

After the meeting, the group is going to have lunch with students and lecturers from the other studies the Faculty of Humanities is planning to close, namely Italian, German, French, Religious Studies and Islam & Arabic. Together, they will watch the livestream of the House of Representatives.

What was decided last night:

Student demonstration
After the unions called off the demonstration following the advice of the municipality, the public prosecutor's office and the police, several student unions and the socialist youth organisation Rood decided to go ahead anyway.

The students are sticking to the original schedule. At 1:00 pm, they will gather at Moreelsepark and then the group will march towards Dom Square. According to a joint press release written by Vidius, Amsterdam's Asva, SRVU, Akku, Stuur, LSVb and CJB, this alternative demonstration is not only against the billion-euro cuts to the higher education budget but also against the criminalisation of protests and the protection of the right to demonstrate. 

The initial demonstration, which was expected to attract thousands of people, was cancelled last minute at the insistence of Utrecht Mayor Sharon Dijksma. If the unions had not followed the advice to cancel the demonstration, the mayor would prohibited it anyway. The mayor says her decision was based on indications that pro-Palestine demonstrators were planning on joining the march and they did not discard the possibility of using violence. Her spokesperson adds that the demonstration was not forbidden, but the mayor urges people to stay home. "We are very concerned about the sentiment that could arise if groups still come to demonstrate today. We call on everyone to stay calm and will assess (spontaneous) actions on a case-by-case basis."

The alternative proposed by trade unions AOb and FNV for today: protest in the House of Representatives
Today, the trade unions are organising an alternative for what might have been the largest demonstration in higher education in the history of the Netherlands. The speeches originally planned to be given at Dom Square will now happen in the House of Representatives. These will be livestreamed at several places across Utrecht University, such as the large lecture hall on the ground floor of Drift 13, Kromme Nieuwegracht 0.06, and Muntstraat 2A. The livestream can also be followed at Utrecht Science Park, including the old canteen in the Langeveld building. More rooms are still being sought to show the

In red
Many students and employees are dressed in red today as red is the colour of the felt square that the protest group WOinActie introduced in the Netherlands as a sign of protest against the underfunding of higher education. A WhatsApp group reports that the red square can be accompanied by the slogan REDucatie.

Attending the municipal council meeting of Utrecht
Several WhatsApp groups have also called for people to attend the municipal council meeting today. The meeting started at 10:00 am and lasted until 2:15 pm. Those who attend it are asked to wear red as well. 

New demonstration planned
The education trade unions AOb and FNV are organising a new demonstration for November 25, the day that the education budget will be discussed in the House of Representatives. This demonstration will take place in The Hague.