Student protesters blockade central University of Copenhagen buildings

The activist group Students Against the Occupation occupied Wednesday morning 4 September the Museum Building which includes the Rector’s Office.

The student organization demands that the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) management implements a boycott academic institutions in Israel. The organization writes on its Instagram profile.

»While the situation in Palestine only gets worse, The University of Copenhagen continues cooperation with academic institutions in Israel. We do not have three more years to wait for UCPH’s management to do the only right thing. We are forced to act.«

Masked occupiers

The blockade consisted of 15-20 people, some of whom were masked. This is according to the UCPH administration in a release that was sent out to affected employees via email. The police were called in, and have said via the social media X that six people have been arrested in connection with the blockade.

The University Post spoke to Zahra Hamze, who is a presscontact for the student organisation. She confirms that all students have now been removed from the building.

»The purpose of the occupation was to put pressure on the rectorate for an academic boycott of Israel. They also did this to Russia during the invasion of Ukraine, and we think that it is a perfectly reasonable demand,« Hamze says.

The boycott of Russia followed Denmark’s official foreign policy line. The government has not recommended boycotting Israel – surely there is a difference?

»We don’t find it to be a good argument. Several human rights organizations and reports show that what is happening in Gaza right now is genocide and a violation of international law. And as a Palestinian student, I don’t feel at all comfortable with my university cooperating with Israeli universities that support the military that is carrying out a genocide.«

Why were people masked?

»We have a general policy that you should be allowed to mask up if you want to. Many have experienced individual persecution by the police or by right-wing extremists if they have been seen on, say, a video,« she says.

Is it not disconcerting for university employees to have their offices occupied by a bunch of masked people?

»I understand, but the protest was very peaceful. No one was accosted or anything like that. We have a policy that you don’t speak directly to people, so we don’t understand if you feel unsafe. The masking is for our own sake,« says Zahra Hamze, and continues:

»We consider it to be a huge escalation on the part of UCPH that they call in the police, who show up with battering rams and automatic rifles. It’s outrageous that the university lets the police treat us students in this way. Students have previously held blockades, including at the Department of Psychology in 2022, and no police were called in.«

Greta Thunberg was there

The media Politiken was present at the demonstration this morning and reported that Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg both attended and was among those arrested.

On her Instagram profile, Greta Thunberg writes in a story:

»@studenrendemodbesaettelsen and I are inside the University of Copenhagen administration building. The police have been called in. They violently broke into a building with a battering ram and automatic weapons. They are ejecting everyone as I write.«

And she continues:

»We are here because dialogue, camps, demonstrations and other methods in a three-year campaign have not led the university to meet its demands, including an institutional academic boycott.«

The University of Copenhagen Prorector for Education Kristian Cedervall Lauta commented on the blockade to the University Post:

»The museum building, where the rectorate is based at the University of Copenhagen, was occupied this morning and barricaded by 15-20 demonstrators, some of whom were masked. The police immediately took over the handling of the situation. A handful were arrested and the situation normalized. In the case of students who are enrolled at UCPH, this will be followed up by a disciplinary process.«