“We specifically demand that KU cancel its research collaborations and exchange agreements with Israeli academic institutions and publicly criticise their involvement in the State of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”
Activist Greta Thunberg was arrested along with student protesters at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark at a pro-Palestine demonstration on Wednesday.
“Students Against the Occupation and I are at the University of Copenhagen’s administration building,” Thunberg wrote in a video shared on her Instagram account.
The protesters had reportedly blocked the entrance to the building and three entered.
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“Police have been called, violently entered the building with a ram wearing assault rifles. They are evicting everyone as we speak,” Thunberg added.
She wrote: “We are here because dialog (sic), encampment, demonstrations among other methods after a 3 year long campaign did NOT lead the university to meet the demands including an institutional academic boycott.”
Thunberg said students “have been arrested and are being taken to the station this very moment.”
A subsequent video showed Thunberg, with a kaffiyeh around her neck, handcuffed and put in a police van.
Russian Universities’ Boycott
In a press statement, Students Against the Occupation said “While the situation in Palestine worsens, the University of Copenhagen continues its collaboration with Israeli universities and thereby contributes knowledge that is used to commit genocide.”
It continued, “That is why we are occupying the University of Copenhagen’s Museumsbygning at Fue Plads, which houses the rector’s office. We will not leave the site until the University of Copenhagen terminates the cooperation with Israeli universities.”
Greta Thunberg arrested for standing with Palestine: pic.twitter.com/wKZceko6ED
— PalMedia (@PalBint) September 4, 2024
The statement pointed out that the Danish universities “will have to boycott” Israeli universities, “just like the boycotted Russian universities in 2022.”
“We specifically demand that KU (Københavns Universitet – PC) cancel its research collaborations and exchange agreements with Israeli academic institutions and publicly criticise their involvement in the State of Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” the statement said.
It further demanded that KU “protects academic freedom by refusing to cooperate with universities that are used as political tools.”
“Academic Boycott Now!” the students urged.
According to Danish media, around 20 protesters gathered at the university and six of them were arrested.
With the new academic year beginning, student protests against Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza are expected to resume at campuses.
Columbia University
At New York City’s Columbia University, two students were detained at a pro-Palestine demonstration on Tuesday.
The Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine live-streamed on X parts of the protests, stating that the NYPD officers were “extremely aggressive with students, shoving protestors against the barricades”.
— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) September 3, 2024
The student group stressed that as long as their university remains complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza “there is no business as usual during a genocide.”
“As we begin our new semester, students in Gaza have no universities to return to. Instead of listening to the student body, Columbia University is doubling down. We will not stop & and will not rest until Columbia divests from apartheid and genocide. This is just the beginning,” the student movement said.
Campuses across the US, in Europe and elsewhere have seen consistent protests and student encampments in the past few months as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise.
Ahead of the new academic year, the president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, resigned following months of criticism over her handling of the campus protests.
Columbia became a center of protests earlier this year where students set up encampments, calling for an end to Israel’s genocide and their university’s ties to the occupation state, resulting in violent arrests by police, authorized by Shafik.
Call by Hamas
Last month, senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal urged university students across the world to resume their protests against Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
“I call upon the student leaders in our Arab and Islamic countries, as well as in the East and the West, to renew the student movement in the broadest scope, in order to stop this criminal aggression,” Meshaal urged in a video speech aired at a conference in Istanbul.
‘Period of Turmoil’ – Columbia President Resigns after Gaza Protests
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 40,861 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,398 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
