Irish, Swiss students join anti-Israel protest wave by staging campus encampments
Protesters at Trinity College Dublin and Lausanne University demand divestment from Jewish state over war against Hamas in Gaza
DUBLIN, Ireland — Students at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and Lausanne University in Switzerland have staged occupations to protest against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, joining a wave of demonstrations sweeping US campuses.
In Dublin, students built an encampment on Friday that forced the university to restrict campus access on Saturday and close the Book of Kells exhibition, one of Ireland’s top tourist attractions.
The camp was set up after the students’ union said it had been fined 214,000 euros ($230,000) by the university for losses caused by protests in recent months, not exclusively over Gaza. The protesters were demanding that Trinity cut academic ties with Israel and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Students’ union president Laszlo Molnarfia posted a photograph of benches piled up at the entrance to the building housing the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks in about 800 CE.
Trinity College said it had restricted access to students, staff and residents to ensure safety, and that the exhibition would be closed on Saturday.
The war began when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 132 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, amid documented systematic targeting of civilians and acts of horrific brutality.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 34,600 people have been killed in the resulting war in Gaza. The toll cannot be independently verified and includes some 13,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. It says 263 IDF soldiers have been killed in battle in the Strip since the ground operation began.
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— Warren Farrell (@WarrenJJF) May 4, 2024
Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests have also been held at universities in Australia, Britain and Canada.
In Lausanne, around 100 students occupied a building to back demands including an end to scientific cooperation with Israel.
“Palestinians have been dying for over 200 days, but we’re not being heard,” one protester told Swiss television on Saturday. “Now there’s a global movement to get governments to take action, but it’s not happening. That’s why we want to get universities involved now.”
The university said the occupation could continue until Monday provided it did not disrupt work on campus.
“We universities are not called upon to take political stands,” the university’s rector, Frederic Herman, told RTS radio. Last week, the head of Trinity College, Linda Doyle, said it was reviewing its investments but that it was for individual academics to decide whether to work with Israeli institutions.
