Several hundred demonstrators took over the main University of Amsterdam building on the Roeterseiland campus on Monday afternoon, as the pro-Palestine protests continued. 

The university authorities have alerted the police and called on everyone who is not part of the protest group to leave the building. They have also closed the Maagdenhuis administration offices in the city centre as a precaution. 

According to broadcaster NOS, mayor Femke Halsema is currently discussing the situation with police chiefs and riot police officers are at the location.

We gaan beginnen pic.twitter.com/txeM6keayj

— Eelco Hiltermann (@eelcohiltermann) May 13, 2024

Some tents have been set up in the main entrance hall and groups of students, some masked, chanted and banged on drums. Some protesters have also placed stickers on security cameras to stop them being used to monitor the protests. 

According to the Parool, the protestors are in part of the building where the university board has offices. 

University newspaper Folia also reports that a number of men, dressed in black, have also been moving through the building. Two were spotted trying to close the underground bike park doors.

The website also showed footage of the damage caused to parts of the complex.

Vernielingen op de zesde etage van REC-ABCD. pic.twitter.com/LKZPf1DRNU

— Folia (@Folia) May 13, 2024

Shortly after 3pm, journalists were muscled out of the building.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, demonstrations have been called in Utrecht, Wageningen, Groningen, Delft and Maastricht, and tents have been put up at the Nijmegen, Eindhoven and Groningen university campuses.

Zo’n 100 mensen waren maandag bij de ‘walk-out’. De organisatoren verklaren zich solidair met studenten en medewerkers in Amsterdam en Utrecht. Ook eisen ze dat de TU Delft banden verbreekt met Israëlische universiteiten en de wapenindustrie. https://t.co/bHJsyBIUAs

— TU Delta (@tudelta) May 13, 2024

The student protestors want the universities to break all ties with Israel. 

Earlier on Monday it emerged that the universities have agreed not to negotiate with students who cover their faces and will stop students from sleeping on the premises, pending the finalisation of a new protocol to deal with pro-Palestine protests.

Protests have been ongoing at several universities for more than a week and riot police were earlier drafted in to break up demonstrations in Amsterdam and Utrecht.

Jouke de Vries, head of the universities association UNL, and who is also chairman of the University of Groningen, said it is important to “know who you are talking to if decisions by the board have to be made.”

De Vries also said the actions of the students had made some Jewish students feel unsafe, which he said was “unacceptable”.