Catarina Bio, spokeswoman for the ceasefire protest movement in Gaza, said that police entered the college at around 10pm and “some people were forced to leave and eight people were detained, handcuffed and taken away by the police”.
The Lusa agency contacted the Lisbon PSP Metropolitan Command (Comtelis), which said there was “nothing to comment”.
An hour earlier, the PSP had confirmed to Lusa the presence of a police device at the location, without providing details about the reason or the result of this presence.
When they were removed from one of the college’s side gates by police forces, a demonstration of support in front of the building mobilized towards that gate, said Joana Fraga, another spokeswoman for the occupation, which takes place in the college’s atrium and demands “a immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the fossil fuel by 2030.”
“Upon our arrival, there was a lot of police violence. I’m talking about strong pushes and blows, leaving even parents of students, who were supporting the protest, on the ground“, said.
The representative also said that the eight detainees are at the Olivais police station, that they will spend the night “in another place and tomorrow they will be brought before a judge”.Robust police force
Previously, another source from this student movement, who did not want to be identified, told Lusa that the PSP appeared at the college with between 20 and 25 agents and that around 50 people were standing at the door of the building in solidarity with the students.
Joana Fraga said that, on Tuesday, when the occupation began, a meeting took place with the management and “there was a commitment not to evict and give an order to disperse as long as normal school activity was maintained and that this occupation did not disturb the normal teaching activity”.
The spokesperson assured that until Thursday “all classes have been taking place normally”.
“There was, in a way, a break in this word that we are still trying to understand, we are still trying to dialogue and get in touch with the management to understand what happened“, he added.
Movements of Portuguese university and secondary school students, including the Student Climate Strike and Students for Justice in Palestine, called for the occupation, joining a student protest that began on North American “campuses” and has now spread to universities from several European cities, from Canada, Mexico and even Australia, demanding an end to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, the management of the Institute of Education and the Faculty of Psychology, which operate in the same building, reported that academic activities proceeded normally, despite the student protest.
The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, in which around 1,200 people died and two hundred were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, Israel has launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has caused nearly 35,000 deaths, said Hamas, in power in the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
