Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy Amsterdam university overnight

[May 08, 2024]  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Pro-Palestinian protesters were occupying a University of Amsterdam (UvA) site on Wednesday, a day after police clashed with protesters in the Dutch capital and broke up an earlier encampment at the university.

Police said the UvA had not asked them to stop the protest, contrary to early on Tuesday when riot police used a bulldozer to knock down barricades at UvA and detained 169 people at a different campus. 

Students and employees of the University of Amsterdam take part in a march against the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza and the University leadership after police broke up a student protest camp overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 7, 2024. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

UvA said in a statement just after midnight that it would like to find a solution with the students who have been protesting since Monday, adding that it has "caused considerable damage" to its buildings.

The university will keep several locations closed on Wednesday due to the blockades. Students have protested against academic ties with Israel and condemned the university's response. UvA has accused some protesters of intimidating behaviour, and video captured violent clashes between pro- and anti-Palestinian protesters.

At the University of Utrecht, some 40 km (25 miles) south of Amsterdam, local police ended a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University library, the police said in a statement.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch, Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Michael Perry and Philippa Fletcher)

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