The activists crossed the entire campus. Photo Resource On Monday morning, about 300 students and staff held a ‘walkout’ to protest against the violence in Gaza. They gathered outside the Forum and then marched around the campus, chanting slogans loud enough for everyone on campus to hear them.
The Executive Board’s refusal to break the links with Israeli universities was criticized by the campaigners: ‘We have been in talks since last November. There have been petitions and several protests. But there doesn’t seem to be any moral awareness.’ The demonstrators also made clear they will not be giving up. ‘We will keep going after this walkout. This isn’t the end!’
Peaceful
The speech at the start of the protest mentioned the harsh methods used to terminate the student protest in Amsterdam last week, with the bitter complaint that ‘the media and public opinion are only interested in what we have to say when things get violent.’
The protest on Wageningen campus was entirely peaceful. The organizers were not really afraid the protest would end in violence, said the person with the megaphone (‘don’t call me a leader!’). ‘Fortunately there is less risk here in Wageningen of the protest being taken over by anti-Semitists.’
‘Limits and agreements’
Walkouts have also been organized in other university towns. Apparently, around 1000 students and staff have joined the protest at the University of Amsterdam, while activists have put up tents in Groningen, Maastricht and Eindhoven.
In response to the announcement of the walkouts, WUR published a message in which the university says it too is concerned about the violence and it can imagine ‘students and staff at WUR may want to give vent to their feelings of anger, powerlessness or frustration. But that should be subject to various limits and agreements.’
