Vienna (OTS) – This press release was sent via SÖZ’s OTS account to offer students a platform; the content comes from the students and is not connected to the party.
Vienna. “On Wednesday, May 8th at 11 p.m., the Austrian police stormed the Palestine solidarity camp with drones, WEGA units, surveillance vans, police dogs, trucks and a crane. The choice of time of night allowed the police to evacuate with little to no effort Witnesses in which the students were forcibly removed from the camp by around 200 armed police officers, the camp was surrounded, all exits to the university campus were blocked and journalists were expelled from the premises. The police gave neither information nor a legal justification for this the dissolution of the camp.
The University of Vienna and its security forces on campus cooperated with the Vienna police, WEGA and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (State Protection) when they sealed off the campus from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., forcibly evacuated the camp in the middle of the night and in the process ensured that there were no There are witnesses to this violence. A violence inflicted on students and non-students alike because they demanded separation of their institutions from genocide, apartheid and the global military-industrial complex.
Four students bravely refused to leave the camp to prevent the eviction and protect the camp, resulting in three of them being physically removed from the camp, isolated and arrested. Another person resisted by climbing a nearby tree and remaining there until about 8 a.m. While the person remained alone in the evacuated camp, hundreds of supporters spontaneously gathered in front of the campus at midnight and blocked trams and traffic at the intersection of Alserstrasse and Spitalgasse. Police officers surrounded the protesters, forced them off campus, and made racist comments, one of them telling a protester to “go back where he came from.” The person in the camp was denied legal representation for hours – only after the demonstrators loudly and actively stood up for their rights was they assigned a person they could trust.
The demonstrators continued their protest throughout the night, occupying an intersection and tram tracks and disrupting regular service. They continued their protest to the police detention center (PAZ) on Roßauer Lände, where they demonstrated for the release of their fellow activists and against the destruction of the solidarity camp, while being pursued by a number of police cars. When they arrived at the police station, they were met by a line of seven police vehicles, including a surveillance vehicle. Within minutes of their arrival, 30 people were aggressively surrounded. The police officers physically attacked the demonstrators for no reason, intimidated them with threats of arrest and finally forced all demonstrators to identify themselves and be photographed at close range.
Despite state and police repression, the students have announced via their social media channels that their commitment to the liberation of Palestine and all colonized people remains unbroken: “We stand firmly behind our demands, especially after that night. It has shown how “It is urgently necessary to end the cooperation between the universities and the police and the military. We oppose the repression and the complicity of the Austrian media.” They also announced that news could be expected soon.
The students’ demands are clear: demilitarization of the university; Boycott of research collaborations and Erasmus partnerships with Israeli universities; Disclosure and withdrawal of all investments that support and benefit from genocide; Ending all university-led surveillance and policing projects; and finally, ending fascist oppression on campus. The ground invasion by Israeli occupying forces in the city of Rafah, shortly after the rejection of a ceasefire agreement, where more than 600,000 refugees are starving, further underlines the urgency of their demands.”
Questions & Contact:
info@soez.at
hakan.gordu@soez.at