Punched, choked, kicked: German police crack down on student protests
Al Jazeera
Germany’s students, labelled ‘terrorist sympathisers’ for protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, say their right to free speech is under attack.
“We are witnessing a great endangerment of academic freedom – and this has started since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza,” says Cecilia, an undergraduate student at Berlin’s Free University.
After her university published what she saw as a one-sided statement of support for Israel following the Hamas attacks of October 7, and students on campus began to experience an increase in Islamophobic harassment on campus, she and others formed a committee to show solidarity with Palestine and oppose Israel’s war in Gaza.
At universities across Germany, thousands of students like her have mobilised in support of Palestine, leading demonstrations, organising lectures and sit-ins occupying university buildings and campus lawns. They have also opposed the speeches of visiting Israeli officials – notably Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor who visited Cologne University in January and the Israeli judge, Daphne Barak-Erez who spoke at Humboldt University in February.
But students and university staff also say that their right to free expression has come under assault from hostile media coverage, repressive legal measures taken by universities and politicians, and the use of police violence against peaceful demonstrators.
“Staff, teachers and students who have been trying to objectively teach and raise their voice about what is happening in Gaza and Palestine have been systematically repressed,” says Cecilia.
