Climate activists in the Eindhoven University of Technology occupied a second room on Tuesday morning. After more than twenty hours, they have not heard from the management of the university. “We will continue until our demands are met” said Liz van der Jagt.
Twelve activists have occupied a meeting room since Monday morning. Five of them spent the night at the university. At eleven o’clock in the evening it was quite tense: would they be removed or could they stay? They were ignored and hence, spent the night in the meeting room.
Demands
These are the demands of the protesters at TU/e:
- The university must ‘sever ties’ with the fossil fuel industry.
- Transparency about the so-called ‘third stream’, or the flow of money that the university receives from the business community.
- The university must declare a ‘climate emergency’
On Tuesday morning, three students were busy with a new banner. One for the study room that they were going to occupy an hour later. And with that, they occupied a second space in the Atlas building. A guard watched it happen: “They are now in another area, the aso’s.” The activists have not been stopped nor removed.
Until our demands are met
“We are still being ignored,” says Liz van der Jagt. “We will continue until our demands are met. Just a conversation is not enough. Even if they only choose one of our requirements with which they visibly get to work.”
Liz and her fellow activists expect to be at TU/e until at least the weekend. “I think we’ll hear something from the university leadership by the weekend. They have now allowed us to stay one night here. The next obstacle will be the weekend. The building is then closed for two days. So, they will have to talk to us before that.”
Space for occupation
The occupation has taken place since 11.30 on Monday morning. “We deliberately chose this space in the middle of the building. This is for everyone to see us. And this is an important meeting space. It is not for nothing that the portrait of King Willem-Alexander hangs here.”
A week in advance, the activists, who also study at the university, explored the spaces. “We checked carefully whether there were no locks on the door,” says Van der Jagt. “And in this building there are really only locks on the toilet doors.” And so the occupation was a breeze.
Saving food
While Liz sees if they can easily enter the second room. Thea, another activist arrives with a few garbage bags full of food. “This food is one or two days past its expiry. We are now trying to figure out what is still edible” explained Van der Jagt. “This food was saved from garbage cans at the supermarkets.” There are salads, sandwiches, sushi and wraps in the garbage bags. On a table in front of the occupied rooms, everyone can now grab free food. “First smell if it’s still good”, is the advice.
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
Source : Omroep Brabant
