Amsterdam Police Break up Pro-Palestinian Student Protest

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff of the university and sympathizers protest in front of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 07 May 2024, during a protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian students who protested a day earlier at the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and were removed by the police. (EPA)
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff of the university and sympathizers protest in front of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 07 May 2024, during a protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian students who protested a day earlier at the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and were removed by the police. (EPA)
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Amsterdam Police Break up Pro-Palestinian Student Protest

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff of the university and sympathizers protest in front of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 07 May 2024, during a protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian students who protested a day earlier at the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and were removed by the police. (EPA)
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff of the university and sympathizers protest in front of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 07 May 2024, during a protest in solidarity with pro-Palestinian students who protested a day earlier at the Roeterseiland campus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and were removed by the police. (EPA)

Dutch riot police broke up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Wednesday, battling demonstrators who had vowed to stay put until the institution severed all ties with Israel.

Protesters on barricades made of desks, fences, wooden pallets and bricks used fire extinguishers to keep the police at bay, images on the local TV station AT5 showed.

Police hit protesters with batons and used a shovel to knock down the barricades, breaking through in a matter of minutes.

Hundreds of protesters on the narrow streets outside shouted "Shame on you!" as the police pushed them away from the campus site and dragged many protesters away.

The police had detained 169 people early on Tuesday after sometimes violent clashes as they cleared a similar protest at another UvA site.

Students in the Dutch capital have joined a wave of sit-ins and other actions at universities throughout Europe against Israel's war in Gaza, following larger-scale disturbances at US universities.

UvA managers had hoped talks on Wednesday would bring an end to the protests, but the students dug in, pulling up bricks from the streets and pavements near to the 19th-century campus and forming human chains to take them to the barricade.

The protesters say the Israeli institutions that the university works with profit from oppression of Palestinians.



ICC Chief Prosecutor Wants Israeli Objections over Netanyahu Warrant to be Rejected

Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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ICC Chief Prosecutor Wants Israeli Objections over Netanyahu Warrant to be Rejected

Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
Israeli Prime Minister and Chairman of the Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu, makes an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has told judges that Israeli objections to the investigation into the 13-month war in Gaza should be rejected.

Karim Khan submitted his formal response late Monday to an appeal by Israel over The Hague-based court’s jurisdiction after judges issued arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.

The embattled Israeli leader, who is also facing corruption charges in his homeland, called the arrest warrant “ a black day in the history of nations ” and vowed to fight the allegations, The AP reported.

Individuals cannot contest an arrest warrant directly, but the state of Israel can object to the entire investigation. Israel argued in a December filing that it could look into allegations against its leaders on its own and that continuing to investigate Israelis was a violation of state sovereignty.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.

The court’s 125 member states include Palestine, Ukraine, Canada and every country in the European Union, but dozens of countries don’t accept the court’s jurisdiction, including Israel, the United States, Russia and China.

In Khan’s combined 55-page response, he says the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, allowed it to prosecute crimes that take place in the territory of member states, regardless of where the perpetrators hail from.

The judges are expected to render a decision in the coming months.