Since 10 am, police are present, as are the fire brigade and an ambulance in the front of the building in Randwyck, which houses not only the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience but also the Banditos coffee shop, Scannexus, and Brightlands (companies). There are serious concerns about safety, according to UM spokesperson Koen Augustijn, due to the presence of MRI scanners in Scannexus with strong magnetic fields and cooling gases such as helium and nitrogen. The magnets must be kept extremely cold. If that goes wrong, it can not only affect the equipment itself but also the safety of those present.
On the right the main building of Oxfordlaan 55; on the left, in the annex, are the scanners
It is unclear whether the protesters have direct access to the rooms where the scanners are actually located.
The protest on Oxfordlaan resembles what happened in Nijmegen in October, when pro-Palestinian activists occupied a similar lab at Radboud University.
Contact
UM is attempting to make contact with the activists, in the hope that they will leave the premises voluntarily. Rector Jan Smits is present on behalf of the Executive Board at Oxfordlaan 70 across the street. This afternoon, he reportedly negotiates with a mediator representing the protesters, but later on the Executive Board has “ordered” the group to leave the building, according to an update on the UM website. A similar message appears in the stories on the Maastricht4Palestine Instagram account stating that the Executive Board is asking them to leave “for the second and final time.” If they do not do so by 2:30 pm, the Executive Board says "they are forced to call the police". This request is ignored. Around 4 pm, the riot police gathers near Oxfordlaan with seven vans.
The police are waiting for the activists with a special arrest van
An hour later, a special police team enters the building. The activists are dragged or carried out and then forced to board a special “arrest bus".
This evening, in a message on the UM-website, President Pamela Habibovic stated that the board "regrets" the evacuation, but that there was “no other option” to “ensure safety".
Demands
On Instagram the activists had set out their demands in more detail. For instance, they want UM to terminate its lease agreement with the realty company Aroundtown for a building on Paul-Henri Spaaklaan. Aroundtown is reportedly partly owned by the Israeli billionaire Yakir Gabay. By renting the building, the activists say, the university is making itself complicit in the colonisation of Gaza. UM must also be more transparent about the ties it forges with Israel.
They also state that they are fully aware of the risks associated with the scanners in the building, that they have conducted "thorough research", "are trained in MRI safety,” and that they will be "practicing all necessary precautions".
Tiewraps
The building at 55 Oxfordlaan in Randwyck was occupied on Thursday at around eight o’clock. Visitors fancying a coffee from Banditos, staff wanting to get to work, people from outside UM who had been invited to a meeting: security told them all that they could not enter. Roller blinds have been pulled down here and there, doors have been barricaded with furniture and further secured with a bike lock, rope and cable ties. Black plastic prevents outsiders from seeing what is happening inside.
University College Maastricht
Last June, around twenty students acting on behalf of Maastricht4Palestine occupied the University College Maastricht in the city centre, in protest against the university’s collaboration with Israeli institutions. The police eventually put an end to it; it was the first time they had actually been deployed against pro-Palestinian activists.
Deborah Blekkenhorst, Wendy Degens and Peter Doorakkers