Pro-Palestine protests extend to Basel and Fribourg universities
The student pro-Palestine protests in Switzerland have spread. On Monday, premises at the universities of Basel and Fribourg were also occupied.
The Fribourg occupiers announced in a statement that it was a peaceful demonstration. The group called for an “academic boycott” of all Israeli institutions and a ceasefire in the Palestinian territories. Approximately 100 people took part in the occupation, according to a correspondent for the Keystone-SDA news agency.
They also demanded that the University of Fribourg remove the plaque commemorating Chaim Weizmann in the Aula Magna auditorium and rename the Chaim Weizmann Conference which is organised by the Department of Chemistry. Weizmann, the first Israeli president, had studied in Fribourg. The conference has been held since 2009.
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In Basel, students occupied the historic university building, the Bernouillanum. They also called on the University to “fulfil its responsibility” and suspend cooperation with Israeli institutions.
About 50 protesters gathered outside the building in the early hours of Monday afternoon, as a reporter from the Keystone-SDA news agency reported. Inside the building itself, there were about 30 people. The Rectorate will decide on further action on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for the University of Basel said.
The student protests began last week at universities in Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich. On Sunday evening, rooms at the University of Bern were also occupied.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/mga
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