Basel-Stadt real estate plans criminal charges due to university occupation
Published: Friday, May 24th 2024, 09:40
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Immobilien Basel-Stadt is preparing a criminal complaint for trespassing due to the renewed occupation of a university building. A spokeswoman confirmed this to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday.
The Alte Gewerbeschule was occupied on Thursday. This property is owned by the Canton of Basel-Stadt.
The "Unibas 4 Palestine" collective wrote in a press release on Thursday evening that the occupation of the Alte Gewerbeschule would only be resolved if the university responded to their demands and entered into a "direct dialog" with them. It expects the University of Basel to respond to a text it has written on the role of Israeli universities in the Middle East conflict.
The University of Basel, which is rented in this cantonal property, rejects this. "The university management made the squatters an offer of talks last week, which was turned down," writes media spokesperson Matthias Geering in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. "After this second illegal occupation, the University of Basel has no intention of entering into a dialog with the occupants," writes Geering.
Second cast
However, the university management is taking certain concerns very seriously. For example, the aim is to offer a number of public events in the fall semester that deal academically with the Middle East conflict. In addition, the university is in contact with students who want to take part in a "constructive discourse" in order to sound out the areas in which the university has any room for maneuver in the context of this conflict, writes Geering.
The pro-Palestinian collective in question occupied the Bernoullianum last week. After two ultimatums expired and the university filed a criminal complaint, the police cleared the building. The activists left the property when the police arrived.
©Keystone/SDA
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