German police crack down on pro-Palestinian encampment in Berlin

German police block protesters outside the Humboldt University during a Pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin, on May 23, 2024. (AFP)

German police have violently cracked down on pro-Palestinian student protesters at a university in the capital Berlin.

Students have gathered a Humboldt University's Department of Socials to protest against Israel’s savage war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The demonstrations began on Wednesday.

Riot police entered the faculty building on Thursday evening and broke up the encampment.

A police spokeswoman said they briefly arrested 169 people and wrote down their identities.

She said that police also took further "measures restricting freedom" at a subsequent protest rally, and issued criminal summons to six more people.

Student organizers condemned police violent actions against protesters, saying the officers used unnecessary force against students.

"The violent eviction" of the student protesters, "marked by police brutality," as well as "the failure of the university authorities to protect their students," is a "grave injustice," the group Student Coalition Berlin wrote in a post on Instagram.

However, the group called on students to continue protests in solidarity with Palestinians.

A student is violently being removed by German police officers from the department of social sciences at Berlin's Humboldt University in Berlin. 

Encampment protests in Germany have stepped up in recent weeks after anti-Israel protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread across Europe.

Students have been camping out and calling for their colleges to financially divest and dissociate from companies that profit from or engage in Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza.

The protests spread to university campuses in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and other cities across Germany.

Berlin authorities have taken a tough line against anti-Israeli protesters, labeling student demonstrators as  “antisemites and terror sympathizers.”

Students say they are “witnessing a great endangerment of academic freedom” since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza.

In several cases, officers were seen carrying some students away, while punching their heads and repeatedly kicking them.

Despite repression and police interventions, students continue to mobilize in support of Palestine, leading demonstrations, and organizing lectures and sit-ins on university campuses across Germany and Europe as well.