It was a decision the board made “with a heavy heart”, Rector Pamela Habibović said last Thursday, in an online Ask Me Anything session. Occupation can be a valid form of protest, but it has to follow a number of conditions, said Habibović. In particular, the lack of insight into what was going on inside the building ultimately led to the decision. “Security couldn’t enter the building, the cameras were off. We were unable to guarantee the safety of the people in and around the building.”
Didn’t really try
Why did the Executive Board not try to ensure that the occupation of UCM did comply with the requirements, the group UM Staff for Palestine asked on Instagram. In a post, they said that the delegation on behalf of the board “didn’t really come to negotiate, their starting point was that the occupation should immediately be brought to an end”.
When asked, one student* at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) agreed with that statement. “The occupation ended on the same day. In my opinion, that means you didn’t really try to resolve it in a different way, didn’t seriously attempt to discuss the issue.” One researcher at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) felt that the police intervention shows that UM “doesn’t care about its students [it was not clear to the Board whether all protesters were students] as much as they say they do. It is very impersonal to leave it to the police, rather than engage in a conversation themselves. These students are using protests to make their voices heard. Intervening like this is essentially a way to silence that voice.”
Right to protest
Eva van Vugt, assistant professor of Constitutional Law, and one of the 54 members of staff at the Faculty of Law who signed a statement criticising the way UM handled the occupation, points out that everyone has the right to protest. “Peaceful occupations such as these are protected by that constitutional right. Infringing it can sometimes be necessary, but in that case it has to be proportional to the goal – for instance safeguarding the safety of the others.” In this instance, she feels deploying police was a disproportionate measure. “That’s something you do when it gets violent. Until that time, the university will have to summon up a certain level of tolerance.”
“Disruption is not the same as violence. To protest is to disrupt, it’s how the demands of the group get heard,” said Belén Gracia, PhD researcher in International Law, who also signed the statement. “The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that you must assume protesters are peaceful until the opposite is proven. That proof has to be delivered by the authorities before they take measures. That’s why there should have been a dialogue with the students right from the start to explore other options.”
Gracia heard from members of UM Staff for Palestine, which was present near the building during the occupation, that this was not the case. “There was no alternative offered during negotiations. They said, ‘Leave or we will call the police.’ But as soon as you call the police, it is out of the university’s hands and that means you definitely can’t guarantee the safety of students.”
“Deeply troubling abuse of power”
On Thursday, 12 June, Palestinian Law student Cinin Abuzeed was critical of the actions. In an open letter sent to board members and lecturers, among others, she called the choice to mobilise the police “not a necessary choice, but a deeply troubling abuse of power”. Students have been denied “actual engagement in negotiations regarding the format of the protest”. She called the statement that the occupation of the UCM building had to be ended for security reasons “disingenuous” and “a dangerous distortion of events”.
Crossed a line
A student at the Faculty of Science and Engineering is actually on the board’s side, he said in the university restaurant at Universiteitssingel 40. “By entering a building and preventing other people from getting to their seminars or to work, these protesters have crossed a line. And anyway, UCM students [the occupation was at UCM, although it is unclear whether they were UCM students] often have a different political opinion to the rest of us. For example, I don’t think that the university can do anything about the situation in Gaza, or that the ties UM has with Israeli institutes contributed to that.”
Everybody has a right to protest, agreed an FHML student, “but you shouldn’t get in other people’s way. I don’t see the benefit of occupying a building, there are other ways to get your point across.” He did understand the university’s decision. Just like a FASoS student, who felt the police intervention was “a perfectly acceptable solution”. “I don’t know all the details, but I heard that the occupiers provided little information to the university, that they didn’t want to talk and that communication was difficult [Maastricht 4 Palestine and UM differ in opinion on why this was]. In this particular case, I feel it was justified. Only as a last resort, though. If the occupiers do want to communicate, then I don’t think the police intervening is a solution.”
Rumours
Many people Observant spoke to could understand both ‘sides’. “It’s a shame it was needed, but I do understand the university,” said a member of FASoS support staff. “Especially when you hear they taped off the cameras. I think the police were actually rather nice about it, because they didn’t charge them [they were detained, but not arrested/locked up]. We didn’t reach the level of events in Amsterdam [where police were significantly more forceful when ending the occupation at the universities]. But I find this a very difficult topic to discuss. You hear so many stories, there are so many rumours going around.”
Two FASoS students agreed. “It is hard, you hear so many things about what may or may not have happened. It’s a very polarising subject, but you can understand both sides.”
More important than missing classes
“People have free will and are allowed to demonstrate wherever and for whatever they want, but it does get complicated if others don’t feel safe, or feel it causes a hindrance,” said one Master’s student International Business. “When you have a seminar, or you want to finish something at the faculty as a member of staff, it is a nuisance. At the same time, I do understand that protesting what is happening in Gaza might be more important than missing some classes.”
A Law student is equally torn. “I understand calling the police, you don’t want strangers occupying university premises. On the other hand, it is disproportionate to react in such a way, you could have chosen to negotiate longer.”
The university might have made it into a bigger thing than it actually was, said one FSE student. “It was a protest, it drew attention, it disrupted classes, but other than that, it wasn’t a big issue.”
Wendy Degens, Peter Doorakkers, Cleo Freriks, Lena Reichel and Dennis Vaendel