Despite Systematic Repression: How European Protests Against the Israeli War on Gaza Expanded

Demonstrators are gathering across Europe to protest the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip despite attempts to restrict it, and with the spread of protests in American universities, questions are being raised about the possibility of them spreading to their European counterparts.

From October 7, 2023, until mid-April 2024, Europe witnessed more than 3,100 demonstrations related to the war on Gaza, but during the same period the number of demonstrations and activities was about 2,700 demonstrations and vigils in the United States, according to data from the ACLED organization, which tracks political activities of this kind around the world.

In Germany, officials have repeatedly refused to authorize many pro-Palestinian protests, saying limits are needed to prevent public disorder and anti-Semitism.

In France, a series of legal proceedings ended with courts deciding to allow protests on a case-by-case basis after authorities said they could lead to incitement to hatred.

In Britain, the government has given police new powers to arrest protesters who threaten or intimidate others during marches and protests.

While demonstrators clashed with law enforcement authorities at dozens of American universities, the confrontations on European university campuses remained limited; this is what analysts attribute to the difference in the culture of protest, demographic composition, laws of expression of opinion, regulations governing universities, and the behaviors of the security services.

But others argue that some European governments have sought to impose strict restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests, and some say tensions have occurred but have been largely ignored by the media.

Systematic Repression

USA Today newspaper recently highlighted the expansion of pro-Gaza student protests from American universities to European capitals.

The newspaper reported that demonstrators from London to Geneva are gathering in streets and universities of European capitals to protest the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

According to the newspaper, despite the common goals of the protests taking place at American universities with their European counterparts, they differ in their organization and form from what is happening in the United States.

Pro-Palestinians protests around the world involve demanding a ceasefire, providing aid to civilians in Gaza, calling on Western governments to stop supplying weapons to the Israeli army, and stopping any cooperation with Israeli institutions.

The newspaper pointed out that pro-Gaza students staged a sit-in on the campus of Sciences Po University in the French capital, Paris.

The students chanted slogans in support of the Palestinians and raised Palestinian flags on the windows and above the entrance to the building. A number of them placed the black and white keffiyeh, which has become a symbol of solidarity with Gaza.

The protesters demanded that the university administration condemn The Israeli Occupation's actions, echoing the sound of similar protests at American universities.

These student protests were supported by several figures on the French left (La France Insoumise party), including the French–Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, a candidate for the European elections, who told the press, "They carry the honor of France."

The Sciences Po administration decided to close several buildings on its campus in Paris, and strongly condemned these student protests.

The administration organized a meeting with student representatives last week, after being criticized for allowing the police to interfere on campus.

The Sciences Po Palestine Committee called on the university to clearly condemn The Israeli Occupation's practices and end cooperation with all institutions or entities considered involved in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.

Pro-Gaza students at Sciences Po face charges of anti-Semitism on campus, according to USA Today.

France, which has Europe's largest communities of both Jews and Muslims, fears the Middle East conflict being imported onto its soil.

French authorities have banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, canceled conferences and most recently summoned two far-left politicians for police questioning over alleged support for terrorism.

Anti-Semitism

In the German capital, Berlin, police recently began removing a pro-Palestinian sit-in camp set up by activists outside the parliament building, to demand that the government stop arms exports to "Israel," and end what they say is the criminalization of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

The police removed the tents, forcibly removed the demonstrators, and closed the surrounding area to prevent the access of other protesters.

The activists set up the camp on April 8, coinciding with the start of the International Court of Justice's consideration of a case filed by Nicaragua against Germany, due to Berlin's provision of military aid to "Israel."

Dozens of demonstrators sat on the ground, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans and songs, while the police asked them via loudspeakers to leave.

Germany banned the arrival of former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in mid-April in order to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-"Israel" propaganda, according to German authorities.

The police stopped the activities of the Palestinian conference in which he was supposed to participate, an hour after they started.

The Greek minister, as well as the Nobel Prize-winning French writer Annie Ernaux, are in the crosshairs of the conservative Speaker of the Austrian Parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, who is demanding that the invitation extended to them to the Vienna Festive Weeks art festival be withdrawn.

The festival's artistic director, Milo Rau, refuses to comply with this request, considering that calling the writer anti-Semitic is just as absurd as calling her anti-France because she criticizes her country's government.

In Britain, officials have threatened to cancel visas or expel foreign students who praise Hamas, and police have been given new powers to arrest protesters.

Despite this, demonstrations take place in Britain on a regular basis and every Saturday, usually in the capital, London, and in other cities.

Matt Beech, who directs the Center for British Politics at the University of Hull, said one reason there may be fewer combative on-campus protests in the UK compared with the U.S. could be because there are regular, larger-scale demonstrations, most of them pro-Palestinian, in London and other British cities each Saturday.

Beech pointed out that the amendments in the United States allow students to participate publicly in these demonstrations, but hate speech laws in the United Kingdom may act as a deterrent to what students want to say on campus.

At Oxford University, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, faced a protest from two students while she was attending to deliver a speech on April 25.

As Pelosi began speaking, two students wearing T-shirts reading "Youth Demands" and carrying Palestinian flags entered, as they continued to stand silently throughout her speech for about 20 minutes before police removed them, according to Politico.

European Support for 'Israel'

In light of the intense polarization of European views on the war on Gaza, several non-governmental organizations revealed to Agence France-Presse fears of the suppression of voices supporting the Palestinian cause in Europe, especially after canceling events and issuing prosecutions against anti-war thinkers and activists.

"We see hate speech laws and we see counterterrorism laws being instrumentalized, being weaponized to go after what is legitimate speech under international standards," said Amnesty International researcher Julia Hall.

She added that "there has been an avalanche of cancellations and targeting of peaceful protesters, academics, anyone who is basically out there in solidarity with Palestinian human rights or is criticising the state of Israel."

In the European Union, at least 12 countries have taken disproportionate measures, including banning demonstrations on the grounds of an apparent danger to public security and security, according to a report by the Brussels-based European Civic Forum.

This suppression of solidarity with the Palestinians is due to the massive support provided by Europe to "Israel" related to the Jewish Holocaust, according to Arti Narsi of the European Civic Forum.

In October, psychotherapist Iris Hefets was arrested in Berlin for carrying a placard reading As an Israeli and a Jew: stop the genocide in Gaza.

Also in Germany, campaign group Jewish Voice — which opposes German support for "Israel" and its political apartheid in the West Bank — says its bank accounts have been frozen.

While Berlin was defending itself before the ICJ against Nicaragua's allegation it was facilitating a genocide in Gaza, left-wing Berlin daily TAZ in early April condemned censorship and violence against the Palestinian Congress.

"Germany is applying a double standard. Israel is evaluated differently than other states," the newspaper said.

In the Netherlands, the European Legal Support Centre tallied 310 acts of repression against pro-Palestinian demonstrations or individuals across the EU in the year up to October 2023 — from legal action to harassment and canceled events.

It recorded more than twice that number, or 836, between October 7 and March, a figure ELSC project manager Layla Katterman said is only the tip of the iceberg.

In turn, French-based activist Mehran Homsi said in a statement to Al-Estiklal that "there is a major shift in Western public opinion towards what is happening in Palestine and Gaza. It is a shift that carries with it an inevitable storm of change."

"It also shows the true face of Western democracy based on racial discrimination towards world issues. While the Palestinian cause is considered a refugee problem, anti-Semitism is seen as the most important issue," he added.