After the incident, the management team of University College Maastricht (UCM) decided to only allow access to staff and students this week. Visitors without a UM card will not be allowed in. There is also extra security in and around the building.
The fireworks landed in the office of Teun Dekker, professor at UCM and chairman of the University Council, on Saturday night. “The tea cosy on the window sill took the brunt of the bang, flew around the room and exploded. Apart from that, most of the damage was due to broken glass.” UM spokesperson Koen Augustijn doesn’t know if the fireworks were thrown through the window or placed on the window sill outside. "The burglary alarm went off and a few windows were broken.” He also doesn’t know what kind of fireworks were used. The university filed a report with the police.
This is the umpteenth report filed. In a number of buildings, including UCM and the Faculty of Law, the outer walls and inside toilet facilities were plastered with (pro-Palestinian) slogans, on various occasions the last few weeks. Due to these incidents, Wolfgang Giernalczyk, dean of UCM, decided two weeks ago to shut the doors of his premises at half past six, a couple of hours earlier than usual. Students reacted angrily and incensed. They saw all kinds of evening activities fall through.
For the time being, UM is putting the fireworks incident down to vandalism, without any link to previous events.