Response from the Executive Board regarding the ended occupation
At around 07.30 hours on Thursday morning, a group of protesters occupied a UM building on Oxfordlaan. The presence of superconducting magnets and cooling gases, amongst other things, made safety conditions in the building – and therefore also for the protesters – highly precarious. For non-experts, the installations in the building present a high-risk and potentially life-threatening situation.
Due to serious safety concerns (based on an analysis by experts and the fire department) the Executive Board informed the protesters of the safety risks and strongly urged them to leave the premises voluntarily and continue their protest at another location. A meeting then took place with mediators who were in contact with the protesters. When this proved unsuccessful, the Executive Board once again asked the protesters to leave the building peacefully and offered them a nearby location to protest. There was no response to this, after which the Executive Board had to demand that the protesters leave the building by 14:30 hours at the latest. When this was also met with no response, UM filed a report of trespass at around 16:00 hours.
By filing this report, the ‘security triangle’ (the municipality , the Public Prosecutor and the police) took control of the situation. They decided to end the occupation.
Pamela Habibović, on behalf of the Executive Board: ‘From early morning, one thing was paramount: safety in and around the building. This included the safety of the protesters inside the building.
We were extremely concerned , and those concerns were not alleviated during the course of the day. We regret that this had to lead to the evacuation of the building, but there was no other way to ensure a safe situation within the building.
What follows now is an inspection of the building. Then we will know how it was left, whether any damage has been caused and what condition the equipment is in. We remain fully open to dialogue within our community, including with pro-Palestinian protesters. For us, this is completely separate from today’s occupation and the necessary end to it’.
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