Statement DWARS Utrecht on emergency debate on police brutality

On Thursday 6 June, the city council debated the police deployment at the peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Utrecht University (UU). Recently, demonstrators protested against UU's ties with Israeli institutions that contribute to the genocide in Gaza and the oppression of Palestinians. As DWARS Utrecht, we find it unacceptable that motions focusing on human rights have failed to make it into Utrecht's ‘human rights city’.

These included a vote against a motion to condemn police brutality and a vote against a motion to urge UU to sever ties with Israeli institutions. It also voted against a motion in which the colours of the Palestinian flag would be projected on City Hall in solidarity. We fully support these motions and find voting against them unacceptable.

We do welcome lobbying at the Association of Dutch Municipalities to support the reconstruction of Gaza, advocating for the recognition of Palestine and talking to UU about the new rules around demonstrations they are going to introduce.

However, this is not enough. Utrecht is internationally known as a human rights city. This means that UU should cut ties with Israeli institutions because they contribute to the genocide in Gaza and the repressive regime in Palestine. If people peacefully protest against the fact that the UU has these ties then the UU should listen to these protesters instead of using force to dispatch them.

Furthermore, in a human rights city like ours, we must defend and strengthen the right to demonstrate, and therefore we must condemn the police violence used as strongly as possible. As DWARS Utrecht, we hope that in the future the Utrecht City Council will speak out more strongly for the Palestinian cause and for protecting the right to demonstrate in our city.