Protest at the Faculty of Psychology of Lisbon: PSP detains eight, students complain of police violence

The student camp at the Faculty of Psychology and the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon, which has occupied the location since Tuesday in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for the end of the use of fossil fuels, began to be dispersed this evening by agents of the Public Security Police (PSP), with the arrest of eight people recorded.

To Expresso, a source from Climáximo, one of the environmental groups organizing the camp, said that if found “around 20 police officers at the scene to disperse the camp.” Close to 11pm, no detainees had yet been registeredbut the same source said that, around that time, police gave “the third warning for people to leave”.

After this third warning, eight students were detained. “Some people were forced to leave and eight people were detained, handcuffed and taken away by the police,” Catarina Bio, spokeswoman for the ceasefire protest movement in Gaza, told Lusa.

The Lisbon Metropolitan Command of PSP confirmed the operation, indicating that he was “notified of the occupation”. Regarding the arrests, the PSP said there was “nothing to comment”.

“Upon our arrival, There was a lot of police violence. I’m talking about strong pushes and blows, even leaving parents of students, who were supporting the protest, on the ground”, says Joana Fraga, another spokesperson for the movement.

The eight detainees, who are at the Olivais police station, will spend the night “in another location and tomorrow they will be brought before a judge”. To Expresso, Fraga revealed that the camp remains, but outside of college. “We camp in front of the college and it’s to maintain,” she said. ”We do not consent! We return to occupy. We called for a camp tonight in front of FPUL”, they wrote on the social network Instagram.

Rectory called the police because they considered that the protest was now a “security threat”

The rectory of the University of Lisbon (UL) confirmed, in a statement, that it appealed to the authorities to intervene, considering that a initially legitimate protest began to result in “worrying in destruction of property, graffiti and threat to security through the elimination and picking of locks.” In a statement from the student movement “End the Fossil”, it is said that the The college “would have assured students that it would not call the police.”

UL also mentioned a “increased concern among students at both institutions about possible interruptions to planned activities, both teaching and non-teaching”. “Faced with this situation, the Rector of ULisboa and the directors of the Faculty of Psychology and the Institute of Education requested the intervention of the authoritiesin order to restore the security of assets, equipment and people in its institutions”, they stated.

Joana Fraga said that, on Tuesday, when the occupation began, a meeting with management and “there was a commitment not to evict and give an order to disperse as long as normal teaching activity was maintained and that this occupation did not disturb normal teaching activity”.

The spokesperson assured that until Thursday “all classes have been taking place normally”. “There was, in a way, a break this word that we’re still trying to understand, we’re still trying dialogue and get in touch with management to understand what happened“, he added.

The same institution guarantees that the college management “initially favored the coexistence of the protest demonstration with the development of activities”, as they valued “the free expression of ideas”. But he argues that the “methods and behaviors” of the students “seriously jeopardize the safety of people and property and, by extension, the proper functioning of ULisboa and its Schools”.

Students and young people from groups present at the demonstration at UL demand, among many other actions, an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the recognition of the Palestinian State and the situation in Gaza as a “genocide”, and call for a boycott of all educational institutions of the Israeli Government. There are also climate collectives in the organization that, as in previous events, call for more ambitious environmental policies, namely the end of the use of fossil fuels.

The student camp at the University of Lisbon followed the example of the camp at Columbia University in the United States, where thousands of students demand an end to their university’s association with the Israeli government. The protest was repeated across the US and Europe and, as in Columbia, many were violently suppressed by police forces.

updated at 8:40 am on May 10, 2024 with the arrests and respective statements