Police clear occupied university building in Basel
This is the third time buildings at the University of Basel have been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters.
KEYSTONE / GEORGIOS KEFALAS
Basel cantonal police evacuated the Department of Social Sciences early on Monday morning, which had been occupied by pro-Palestinian activists. The University of Basel had filed a criminal complaint for eviction on Friday. 20 people have been banned from the premises.
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Keystone-SDA
The police were present with a large contingent and around two dozen vans, as reported by the Keystone-SDA news agency. The area was cordoned off on a large scale.
When the police arrived shortly after 6:00am, there were no more people in the building, police spokesman Adrian Plachesi told the media at the scene. Various people had been identified and stopped in front of the building. There was a brief scuffle.
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“20 people were checked. These people were all banned from the area until midnight,” said Plachesi.
Basel cantonal police were supported by the police association, “Polizeikonkordat Nordwestschweiz”.
Third occupation
The “Unibas 4 Palestine” collective occupied another building on Thursday afternoon. When the canton, which owns the building, filed a criminal complaint on Friday morning in agreement with the university, the activists moved to the Institute of Sociology on the same street.
The same group had already occupied a third university building the week before last, which was evacuated by police after two days.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/ac
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