{"id":168800,"date":"2024-06-01T18:08:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T16:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=168800"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:22","slug":"third-day-encampment-on-campus-goes-quietly-following-incident-friday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/06\/01\/third-day-encampment-on-campus-goes-quietly-following-incident-friday-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Third day encampment on campus goes quietly, following incident Friday night"},"content":{"rendered":"

The demonstration on campus has now entered its third day. Although it seems to be calm now, there was an incident yesterday in the early evening when a man carrying an Israeli flag came to the demonstration and was then chased off campus by protesters. Saturday night, according to an EM employee, there are about 20 protesters present.<\/p>\n

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Police visit the encampement for a surveillance round late Saturday afternoon.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDaan Stam<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

On its website, the university strongly condemned the chase. \u201cWe emphatically stand against the events of last night. There is no room for anti-Semitic or Islamophobic expressions on the Woudestein campus. When these rules are violated the safety of students, staff and protesters cannot be guaranteed. This is testing the limits of our own possibilities here\u201d, the university says on its liveblog<\/a> about the situation.<\/p>\n

Student with Israeli flag<\/h2>

A video showing the man being chased by a group of protesters is frequently shared on social media. According to the university, the man carrying the Israeli flag is said to be an Erasmus University student.<\/p>\n

The video shows the man with the flag walking towards the plaza where the protesters have set up their tents. There he is approached and chased by a group of about six people whereupon the man runs away and eventually disappears between the buildings behind the Van der Goot building. According to the university, security guards intervened, which cannot be seen on the video, the protesters also deny that security intervened, says \u00c7a\u011flar K\u00f6seo\u011flu, the lecturer speaking on behalf of the protesters.
\nAccording to a university spokesperson, security guards intervened out of sight of the video, and there was also said to have been contact with the student carrying the Israeli flag afterwards.<\/p>\n

Limits of capabilities<\/h2>

The university says it is in constant and close contact with \u2018the triangle\u2019 about \u2018the manageability of the situation\u2019 because it is \u2018reaching the limits of our own capabilities\u2019 with incidents like this.<\/p>\n

It strikes K\u00f6seo\u011flu that for the first time since the start of the demonstration last Thursday, the university is talking about possibly not being able to guarantee the safety of students and staff on campus. \u201cEspecially since we have recently seen how on canmpuses in the Netherlands \u2018safety\u2019 has been invoked to create the most unsafe situations for both students and teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

No conversation yet<\/h2>

It has not yet come to a conversation between the protesters and the Executive Board. According to spokesperson K\u00f6seo\u011flu, the students are willing to engage in a conversation but under certain conditions: namely, that it takes place in public at the encampment, and that there is no negotiation over the demands they have made.<\/p>\n

The Executive Board, the spokesperson said, has three requirements for a conversation namely that the students do not wear face coverings and can identify themselves, and that the conversation takes place in a quiet place and not at the encampment as the protesters want. \u201cWe looked to see if we could find a place that was quiet, but where the protesters would have a view of the group, but we didn\u2019t come up with that, but this offer still stands,\u201d the spokesperson says.<\/p>\n\n\t

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