
{"id":167133,"date":"2024-09-12T06:01:41","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T04:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/politiet-blev-tilkaldt-til-studenterblokade-vi-blev-ikke-behandlet-som-studerende-men-som-terrorister\/"},"modified":"2024-09-13T09:40:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T07:40:18","slug":"university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Copenhagen called in the police: \u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists\u00ab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>This is according to education student \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah who is active in the student organization Students Against the Occupation. They [\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah uses the pronouns they\/them, ed.] are now criticizing the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) management, which called in the police to remove students during the organisation&#8217;s last two student protests.<\/p>\n<p>The first time was on Wednesday 4 September. Here, Students Against the Occupation took possession of the Museum Building near Frue Plads square where the rector&#8217;s offices and the administration is located.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/student-protesters-blockade-central-university-of-copenhagen-buildings\/\">Student protesters blockade central University of Copenhagen buildings<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Several of the students were masked when they occupied the building and asked employees to leave their offices. The police were called in and showed up with automatic weapons and police dogs. Six protesters were arrested and taken to the police station.<\/p>\n<p>One of them was \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, who reckons that it was \u00bbcompletely disproportionate\u00ab to call in the police for what they describe as a peaceful student protest:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is very concerning that you have to be afraid of being arrested or expelled from your university because you are taking part in a student demonstration<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, student<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbThis is completely outside the normal standards. There have previously been occupations and blockades at the university \u2013 among others at the Department of Psychology in 2022 and at the Humanities in 2019. The police were not involved then,\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/after-a-38-day-stand-off-and-negotiations-the-faculty-of-humanities-target-plan\/\">After 38-day stand-off and negotiations: The Faculty of Humanities plan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe think it is important for university democracy that students have the right to protest and practice civil disobedience. It is very concerning that you have to be afraid of being arrested or expelled from your university because you are taking part in a student demonstration.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>If you are to look at it from the UCPH and staff perspective, can you understand why people felt unsafe when a group of masked people suddenly break into their workplace?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe recognize that they may have felt unsafe, and we don&#8217;t want to take that experience away from them either,\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut we made a point of telling them that we were students, that it was a student blockade, and that they had to leave the building. Quietly and calmly. Some people refused, and we didn&#8217;t do anything about it \u2014 we didn&#8217;t force anyone to do anything.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Fear of reprisals<\/h3>\n<p>Last week the Prorector for Education Kristian C. Lauta announced that the occupation of the Museum Building would be \u00bbfollowed up by disciplinary action.\u00ab This was the same message when students at the end of May 2024 interrupted and disrupted a visit to UCPH by Foreign Minister Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen (Moderates Party).<\/p>\n<p>And the fear that participation in the organization&#8217;s activities will lead to personal consequences was precisely the reason why some students chose to conceal their identities in Wednesday&#8217;s blockade, explains \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe still don&#8217;t know what the consequences are when management talks about &#8216;disciplinary action&#8217;. That is why some of us opted to conceal our identities. In addition, several of us have experienced being contacted by right-wing extremists if they have been seen at events like demonstrations,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We don&#8217;t think we were treated like students, but like terrorists, which is grotesque<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, student<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah themself was a few floors up when the police entered the building to expel the students.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen we saw that they came in with dogs and weapons, we were really scared, so we closed the door to the room we were in. They asked us to come out with our hands behind our heads, and here we were met by a large group of policemen with guns, like something out of \u2018Rambo\u2019,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah who, with five others, was handcuffed and taken to the police station.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe don&#8217;t think we were treated like students, but like terrorists, which is grotesque. Right now we are working on getting in touch with some volunteer therapists so that we can get some psychological crisis assistance. It was a traumatic experience.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>What have you considered in relation to the fact that the Museum Building is right next to the<\/em>\u00a0<em>synagogue in Copenhagen?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is completely coincidental that UCPH&#8217;s leadership is located close to the synagogue, it has nothing to do with our actions. There is nothing anti-Semitic about our actions or our mission. Our goal has been very clear: We want UCPH to take part in an academic boycott of Israel.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is a serious problem if the University of Copenhagen sees a pro-Palestinian demonstration by students as anti-Semitic. We made it clear why we were present in the Museum Building, and we strongly reject the claim that Students Against the Occupation has an anti-Semitic purpose. Especially when we are a student association that in many ways consists of some of the most marginalized students at the University of Copenhagen.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Speak freely, but with responsibility<\/h3>\n<p>In a memo on <a href=\"https:\/\/kunet.ku.dk\/newsroom\/news\/Pages\/On-protests-and-the-University-of-Copenhagen.aspx\">KUnet (needs login)<\/a> UCPH management states that the employees of the Museum Building had not \u00bbin any way\u00ab perceived the blockade as \u00bba peaceful student protest\u00ab. They write:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAn employee who had come in for work early was threatened with being locked up in their office if they did not promptly leave the building.\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah rejects this to be true.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">UCPH management<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>UCPH management writes further that the employees were met with \u00bbloud, aggressive shouts\u00ab and that they \u00bbwere commandeered around by masked people.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt has been debated why the police were called. The answer is that it would have been utterly irresponsible not to call the police when we received reports as described above. For the sake of our employees and because the museum building is in Krystalgade, less than 100 meters from the synagogue in Copenhagen. The action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself,\u00ab management writes and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself. \u00a0These are all fundamental breaches of the values of our community at the University. At a university, you speak freely, but responsibly. And you are not masked. You can be critical while respecting that others may hold different views. And you never \u2013 ever \u2013 act threateningly towards other people&#8217;s physical integrity.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In its memo, the management emphasizes that the form of the 4 September action was different from the tradition of student blockades and occupations at the UCPH \u2013 partly because the students were masked.<\/p>\n<p>Monday 9 September and the students were back on the Frue Plads square. This time they did not occupy any buildings, but blockaded the entrance to the management offices. No one was masked this time, but the police were yet again involved and students were removed from the blockades, says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, and refers to a video on the Student Against Occupation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C_sDSevMLNd\/\">Instagram<\/a>, where a student who is not masked is removed by the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe had been told that the reason the police got involved last time was the masking. So we told everyone that no one could be masked this time, and we did nothing but block the entrance,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah and continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe police were there, but they didn&#8217;t do anything at first. But then apparently it was decided that we should be removed, and we don&#8217;t understand why.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The University Post has asked UCPH management for an in-depth interview and to explain why the police were again called in to the blockade on 9 September. They did not wish a further interview.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the Students Against the Occupation demands?<\/h3>\n<p>The Students Against the Occupation group wants UCPH to implement an academic boycott of Israeli universities. If UCPH does not accept this demand completely, students instead hope for a dialogue over a partial boycott.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbUCPH is currently working with universities that operate in illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and contribute military infrastructure to Israel,&#8221; says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbRight now, UCPH is not even doing the bare minimum like, for example, halting the cooperation with institutions operating on occupied land.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In its memo on KUnet, management states that \u00bbacademic boycotts are not the answer\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbHowever, it does not mean we can&#8217;t discuss whether the University should boycott Israel. Everyone is at liberty to debate, protest against or, for that matter, defend the University&#8217;s position concerning researchers&#8217; collaboration with researchers at Israeli universities. The premise for the University is precisely that we must be able to accommodate and protect wide differences and internal disagreement.\u00ab they write, and continue:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis means two things: Firstly and obviously, actions such as what happened on 4 September are unacceptable. And, secondly, the University should not take a stand on behalf of the community when there is internal disagreement.\u00ab<br \/>\n<!-- end of module 1 --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The police have now twice been involved in protests by the student organization Students Against the Occupation. This is \u00bbcompletely outside normal standards,\u00ab students say. But the University of Copenhagen management says that at a university, you are free to speak, but with responsibility \u2013 and without masks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":167081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>University of Copenhagen called in the police: \u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists\u00ab \u2014 University Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The police have now twice been involved in protests by the student organization Students Against the Occupation. 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But the University of Copenhagen management says that at a university, you are free to speak, but with responsibility \u2013 and without masks.","og_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/","og_site_name":"University Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis","article_published_time":"2024-09-12T04:01:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-13T07:40:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1618,"url":"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Camilla Skovgaard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","twitter_creator":"@Uniavisen","twitter_site":"@Uniavisen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Camilla Skovgaard","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/"},"author":{"name":"Camilla Skovgaard","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4195d7a29af9515c79f62e39cc8b9b"},"headline":"University of Copenhagen called in the police: \u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists\u00ab","datePublished":"2024-09-12T04:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-13T07:40:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/"},"wordCount":1513,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Campus"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/","name":"University of Copenhagen called in the police: \u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists\u00ab \u2014 University Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-12T04:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-13T07:40:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4195d7a29af9515c79f62e39cc8b9b"},"description":"The police have now twice been involved in protests by the student organization Students Against the Occupation. 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But the University of Copenhagen management says that at a university, you are free to speak, but with responsibility \u2013 and without masks.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1618,"caption":"\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah l\u00e6ser p\u00e6dagogik p\u00e5 5. semester og er aktiv i Studerende mod Bes\u00e6ttelsen."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/university-of-copenhagen-called-in-the-police-we-were-not-treated-like-students-but-like-terrorists\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"University of Copenhagen called in the police: \u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists\u00ab"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/","name":"University Post","description":"Independent of management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4195d7a29af9515c79f62e39cc8b9b","name":"Camilla Skovgaard","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0041bcbe7878ff0a96907c167293ec08051266fb28cdc0ef44598cb0049b5288?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0041bcbe7878ff0a96907c167293ec08051266fb28cdc0ef44598cb0049b5288?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0041bcbe7878ff0a96907c167293ec08051266fb28cdc0ef44598cb0049b5288?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Camilla Skovgaard"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/camilla-skovgaard-thomsen\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"expression":{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11488,"filter":"raw"},"enable_comments":true,"align_content":"alignleft","feature_color":"","article_updated":"","layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"default","highlighted_words":"","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":167080,"id":167080,"title":"ozgur (1 of 1)","filename":"ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","filesize":728872,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/politiet-blev-tilkaldt-til-studenterblokade-vi-blev-ikke-behandlet-som-studerende-men-som-terrorister\/ozgur-1-of-1\/","alt":"","author":"99","description":"","caption":"\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah l\u00e6ser p\u00e6dagogik p\u00e5 5. semester og er aktiv i Studerende mod Bes\u00e6ttelsen. ","name":"ozgur-1-of-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":167079,"date":"2024-09-10 09:04:05","modified":"2024-09-10 09:55:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1618,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-480x303.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":303,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-768x485.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":485,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-1280x809.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":809,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-1536x971.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":971,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-2048x1295.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1295,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-290x183.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":183,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-700x443.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":443,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-990x626.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":626}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah is a fifth-semester student of education science and is active in Students Against the Occupation."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Blockade ","text":"The police have now twice been involved in protests by the student organization Students Against the Occupation. This is \u00bbcompletely outside normal standards,\u00ab students say. But the University of Copenhagen management says that at a university, you are free to speak, but with responsibility \u2013 and without masks.","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>\u00bbWe were not treated like students, but like terrorists.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>This is according to education student \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah who is active in the student organization Students Against the Occupation. They [\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah uses the pronouns they\/them, ed.] are now criticizing the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) management, which called in the police to remove students during the organisation&#8217;s last two student protests.<\/p>\n<p>The first time was on Wednesday 4 September. Here, Students Against the Occupation took possession of the Museum Building near Frue Plads square where the rector&#8217;s offices and the administration is located.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/student-protesters-blockade-central-university-of-copenhagen-buildings\/\">Student protesters blockade central University of Copenhagen buildings<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Several of the students were masked when they occupied the building and asked employees to leave their offices. The police were called in and showed up with automatic weapons and police dogs. Six protesters were arrested and taken to the police station.<\/p>\n<p>One of them was \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, who reckons that it was \u00bbcompletely disproportionate\u00ab to call in the police for what they describe as a peaceful student protest:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is very concerning that you have to be afraid of being arrested or expelled from your university because you are taking part in a student demonstration<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, student<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbThis is completely outside the normal standards. There have previously been occupations and blockades at the university \u2013 among others at the Department of Psychology in 2022 and at the Humanities in 2019. The police were not involved then,\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/after-a-38-day-stand-off-and-negotiations-the-faculty-of-humanities-target-plan\/\">After 38-day stand-off and negotiations: The Faculty of Humanities plan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe think it is important for university democracy that students have the right to protest and practice civil disobedience. It is very concerning that you have to be afraid of being arrested or expelled from your university because you are taking part in a student demonstration.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>If you are to look at it from the UCPH and staff perspective, can you understand why people felt unsafe when a group of masked people suddenly break into their workplace?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe recognize that they may have felt unsafe, and we don&#8217;t want to take that experience away from them either,\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah says.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut we made a point of telling them that we were students, that it was a student blockade, and that they had to leave the building. Quietly and calmly. Some people refused, and we didn&#8217;t do anything about it \u2014 we didn&#8217;t force anyone to do anything.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Fear of reprisals<\/h3>\n<p>Last week the Prorector for Education Kristian C. Lauta announced that the occupation of the Museum Building would be \u00bbfollowed up by disciplinary action.\u00ab This was the same message when students at the end of May 2024 interrupted and disrupted a visit to UCPH by Foreign Minister Lars L\u00f8kke Rasmussen (Moderates Party).<\/p>\n<p>And the fear that participation in the organization&#8217;s activities will lead to personal consequences was precisely the reason why some students chose to conceal their identities in Wednesday&#8217;s blockade, explains \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe still don&#8217;t know what the consequences are when management talks about &#8216;disciplinary action&#8217;. That is why some of us opted to conceal our identities. In addition, several of us have experienced being contacted by right-wing extremists if they have been seen at events like demonstrations,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We don&#8217;t think we were treated like students, but like terrorists, which is grotesque<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, student<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah themself was a few floors up when the police entered the building to expel the students.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen we saw that they came in with dogs and weapons, we were really scared, so we closed the door to the room we were in. They asked us to come out with our hands behind our heads, and here we were met by a large group of policemen with guns, like something out of \u2018Rambo\u2019,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah who, with five others, was handcuffed and taken to the police station.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe don&#8217;t think we were treated like students, but like terrorists, which is grotesque. Right now we are working on getting in touch with some volunteer therapists so that we can get some psychological crisis assistance. It was a traumatic experience.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>What have you considered in relation to the fact that the Museum Building is right next to the<\/em>\u00a0<em>synagogue in Copenhagen?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is completely coincidental that UCPH&#8217;s leadership is located close to the synagogue, it has nothing to do with our actions. There is nothing anti-Semitic about our actions or our mission. Our goal has been very clear: We want UCPH to take part in an academic boycott of Israel.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is a serious problem if the University of Copenhagen sees a pro-Palestinian demonstration by students as anti-Semitic. We made it clear why we were present in the Museum Building, and we strongly reject the claim that Students Against the Occupation has an anti-Semitic purpose. Especially when we are a student association that in many ways consists of some of the most marginalized students at the University of Copenhagen.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Speak freely, but with responsibility<\/h3>\n<p>In a memo on <a href=\"https:\/\/kunet.ku.dk\/newsroom\/news\/Pages\/On-protests-and-the-University-of-Copenhagen.aspx\">KUnet (needs login)<\/a> UCPH management states that the employees of the Museum Building had not \u00bbin any way\u00ab perceived the blockade as \u00bba peaceful student protest\u00ab. They write:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAn employee who had come in for work early was threatened with being locked up in their office if they did not promptly leave the building.\u00ab \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah rejects this to be true.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">UCPH management<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>UCPH management writes further that the employees were met with \u00bbloud, aggressive shouts\u00ab and that they \u00bbwere commandeered around by masked people.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt has been debated why the police were called. The answer is that it would have been utterly irresponsible not to call the police when we received reports as described above. For the sake of our employees and because the museum building is in Krystalgade, less than 100 meters from the synagogue in Copenhagen. The action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself,\u00ab management writes and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe action was unannounced, aggressive, anonymous and unwilling to explain itself. \u00a0These are all fundamental breaches of the values of our community at the University. At a university, you speak freely, but responsibly. And you are not masked. You can be critical while respecting that others may hold different views. And you never \u2013 ever \u2013 act threateningly towards other people&#8217;s physical integrity.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In its memo, the management emphasizes that the form of the 4 September action was different from the tradition of student blockades and occupations at the UCPH \u2013 partly because the students were masked.<\/p>\n<p>Monday 9 September and the students were back on the Frue Plads square. This time they did not occupy any buildings, but blockaded the entrance to the management offices. No one was masked this time, but the police were yet again involved and students were removed from the blockades, says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah, and refers to a video on the Student Against Occupation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C_sDSevMLNd\/\">Instagram<\/a>, where a student who is not masked is removed by the police.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe had been told that the reason the police got involved last time was the masking. So we told everyone that no one could be masked this time, and we did nothing but block the entrance,\u00ab says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah and continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe police were there, but they didn&#8217;t do anything at first. But then apparently it was decided that we should be removed, and we don&#8217;t understand why.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The University Post has asked UCPH management for an in-depth interview and to explain why the police were again called in to the blockade on 9 September. They did not wish a further interview.<\/p>\n<h3>What are the Students Against the Occupation demands?<\/h3>\n<p>The Students Against the Occupation group wants UCPH to implement an academic boycott of Israeli universities. If UCPH does not accept this demand completely, students instead hope for a dialogue over a partial boycott.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbUCPH is currently working with universities that operate in illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and contribute military infrastructure to Israel,&#8221; says \u00d6zg\u00fcr Yegah.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbRight now, UCPH is not even doing the bare minimum like, for example, halting the cooperation with institutions operating on occupied land.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In its memo on KUnet, management states that \u00bbacademic boycotts are not the answer\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbHowever, it does not mean we can&#8217;t discuss whether the University should boycott Israel. Everyone is at liberty to debate, protest against or, for that matter, defend the University&#8217;s position concerning researchers&#8217; collaboration with researchers at Israeli universities. The premise for the University is precisely that we must be able to accommodate and protect wide differences and internal disagreement.\u00ab they write, and continue:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis means two things: Firstly and obviously, actions such as what happened on 4 September are unacceptable. And, secondly, the University should not take a stand on behalf of the community when there is internal disagreement.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with our top stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":44,"name":"Campus","slug":"campus","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":44,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1547,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11488,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":672,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ozgur1of1-1280x809.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167133"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167244,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167133\/revisions\/167244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}