Demonstration in Utrecht against budget cuts will not go ahead
The demonstration against the cuts in higher education planned for 14 November will not go ahead on the advice of the mayor of Utrecht. Mayor Dijksma fears for the safety of demonstrators, after a pro-Palestinian organization announced it would ‘hijack’ the demonstration.
A council letter signed by mayor Sharon Dijksma stated that a “pro-Palestinian organisation intends to hijack the demonstration”. Violence would not be shunned in the process. That is why the mayor advises against allowing the demonstration to go ahead. WOinAction considers the cancellation “incomprehensible”.
The organisers of the protest adopted the advice because the safety of the demonstrators cannot be sufficiently guaranteed. The triangle, consisting of the mayor, the police chief and the public prosecutor, “deeply regrets” that this step had to be taken.
“I am deeply concerned that, at a time when it is of great value to be allowed to express one’s opinion and to disagree , there are individuals who, under threat of violence, deprive others of this freedom,” Dijksma wrote in the council letter.
Caught off guard
The demonstration was organised by WOinactie and the AOb trade union, among others. In a statement, the union said it felt “caught off guard” by these recent developments and is currently considering how to make concerns about the cuts visible after all. The organisation writes that it will continue to draw attention to the education cutbacks in the run-up to the OCW budget debate in the week of 25 November.
President Caspar van den Berg of Universities of the Netherlands says he has “full understanding” for the advice of the local triangle and the organisers’ decision. “The safety of the protesters, our students and staff, is paramount, but it is particularly sour that a small group of people who do not shy away from violence should take away the opportunity to demonstrate for thousands of students and staff.”
‘Incomprehensible’
WOinAction, on the other hand, calls the demonstration ban ‘incomprehensible’. All the omens said it would be the biggest demonstration in higher education ever, the organisation writes. “That it has now been cancelled at the last minute is incomprehensible. Demonstration right is a fundamental right that cannot be taken lightly.”
“The cancellation is incomprehensible,” the action group writes on its site, “because the explanation relies on otherwise unspecified reports that an unknown group would ‘hijack’ the strike and would ‘not shun violence’ in the process. This will make it impossible to hold any more large-scale demonstrations.”
