TU/e students again occupied boardrooms at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The students want an end to the university’s ties with the fossil industry.
This is not the first time the students have occupied a university boardroom. The same thing happened in late 2022. The students report that they will not leave the boardroom until the university ends its ties with the fossil fuel industry.
The students are dissatisfied with the steps taken by the university since last December’s protest. It ended after an agreement between the students and the university administration.
Whether the students can actually protest for that long is not clear; according to the students, university security is making a violent attempt to remove the students from one of the board rooms. Earlier, the environmental activists were treated quite harshly on campus. At a climate protest, the police removed the students; Eindhoven municipality later expressed their regret at the treatment of the students.
‘Closed space’
The TU/e informed that ample space is given to demonstrations, but that the action on Thursday took place in a “confined space. For that reason, security guards also intervened. Furthermore, a spokesperson for the university says that the demonstrators were allowed to continue the action a little further away, in the same building. According to the TU/e, there is only cooperation with parties such as Shell when it comes to the issue of sustainability.
Fossil industry
The students are taking action on behalf of End Fossil Occupy, a protest group. The group wants to end the ties that universities have with the fossil energy industry. That industry plays a major role in climate change.
Source: Studio040
Translation: Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING classes.
