Friday, May 10
Berlin university lecturers sign open letter of solidarity with protesting students
More than 300 teachers from Berlin universities have signed an open letter of solidarity with students whose pro-Palestinian protest camp outside the Freie Universiteit was violently and rapidly shut down by police on Tuesday.
The letter doesn’t take a stance on the demands of the demonstrators, but instead defends the students’ right to use university property as a site of protest, stating “Regardless of whether we agree with the specific demands of the protest camp, we stand before our students and defend their right to peaceful protest, which also includes the occupation of university premises.” The letter, which also includes the signatures of more than 500 staff members from other universities in Germany and abroad, calls for Berlin universities “to refrain from police operations against their own students and from further criminal prosecution.”
On Tuesday, around 150 activists set up tents and occupied a courtyard on the Freie Universiteit Berlin campus. The university quickly called the police and had the area violently cleared. 79 people were temporarily arrested.
Unsurprisingly, the letter has been met with criticism from the political establishment. “This statement from teachers at Berlin universities is shocking. Instead of taking a clear stand against hatred of Israel and Jews, university occupiers are made victims and violence is trivialised,” Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger told the BILD newspaper.
