Pro-Palestine protests reach more Swiss universities
Published: Tuesday, May 7th 2024, 18:00
العودة إلى البث المباشر
The pro-Palestine protests reached several universities in Switzerland on Tuesday. At the ETH in Zurich, the Zurich city police ended a sit-in blockade in the entrance hall and charged 28 people. The police had previously issued an ultimatum to the ETH occupiers. An ultimatum was also issued at ETH Lausanne.
Several dozen people gathered in the entrance hall of the ETH main building in Zurich at around 11.30 a.m., according to a police statement. Because the ETH did not want to tolerate the unauthorized protest, the police arrived and gave the occupiers an ultimatum.
Some of the suspects put up passive resistance and had to be carried out of the building. The city police are not yet able to provide more detailed information about these people. The Zurich cantonal police were also involved in the operation.
ETH files criminal complaint
ETH filed a criminal complaint for trespassing. The university's premises are not available for political activism, ETH stated in a statement on the sit-in. The ETH sees itself as a place where different opinions and perspectives can and should be expressed openly, the statement says. However, this should take place within an orderly, authorized framework.
Several dozen people had gathered in the main hall of ETH Zurich before midday and sat down on the floor. Among other things, they shouted "Free Palestine" and spread out a poster on the floor with the slogan "No Tech for Genocide". The entrances to the university remained open.
The main hall was occupied, a group called "Students For Palestine (Zurich)" announced on Instagram and elsewhere. They demanded that ETH Zurich take a "clear stance on the ongoing genocide in Gaza".
Furthermore, the group called on ETH to "academically boycott" Israeli institutions and companies that support the Israeli government. Finally, the ETH should disclose any cooperation with Israeli organizations.
Ultimatum to ETH Lausanne
After the University of Lausanne, where a sit-in has been uniting hundreds of young people since last Thursday, around 50 to 80 demonstrators occupied an entrance hall of the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) on Tuesday afternoon. The university management gave the protesters there an ultimatum. They demanded that the group leave the building by the evening.
"We hope that they will leave peacefully. If they don't vacate the building, the police will intervene," EPFL spokesman Emmanuel Barraud told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request. He did not give a time for the expiry of the deadline.
The university management regretted the protest in a press release. The EPFL management has tasked a delegation with entering into dialogue with the protesters and organizing a meeting with them on Wednesday, it added.
Pro-Palestinian student protests also took place in Geneva on Tuesday. At midday, a group of students occupied the entrance hall of a building at the University of Geneva with tables, chairs and sofas. Numerous Palestinian flags and banners with messages such as "Free Palestine, stop genocide" were hung on all floors of the building.
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