A tense standoff at Radboud University in Nijmegen came to an end early this morning after 23 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested.
The protest began yesterday afternoon, when demonstrators barricaded themselves inside a university facility to demand that Radboud cut ties with Israeli institutions.
Inside the high-stakes occupation
The facility allegedly housed superconducting magnets and cooling gases, equipment that police later said posed a serious safety hazard.
Both Nijmegen mayor Hubert Bruls and the police warned that the situation could have turned deadly.
READ MORE | No less than 250,000 Red Line for Palestine protesters march through Amsterdam
As they explained to De Gelderlander, if the magnets had become unstable, they could have released nitrogen, which would have dangerously reduced the oxygen levels in the room.
Police hesitated to storm the building for hours out of fear that intervention could endanger both protesters and emergency responders.
In various posts on X, Jip Trommelen, reporter for De Gelderlander, captured some tense confrontations outside the building:
Situatie grimmig nu. Sympathisanten weigeren terug te stappen en worden daarop teruggeduwd. Vanuit gebouw klinkt geschreeuw #radboud pic.twitter.com/5lIkj9wED3
— Jip Trommelen (@Jip_Trommelen) October 7, 2025
A dangerous balance between protest and safety
The Mobile Unit and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service (EOD) were deployed to the scene as a precaution.
According to the group Nijmegen Student Encampment, which claimed responsibility for the occupation, the activists had researched the safety aspects in advance and did not believe their actions put anyone at risk.
Police began dispersing parts of the demonstration during the evening, but the main occupation continued until after midnight.
Around 1:30 PM, the remaining protesters decided to leave voluntarily, after which all were taken into custody. As reported by De Gelderlander, authorities even struggled to find enough detention cells to accommodate the large number of arrestees.
It remains unclear whether those involved were students of Radboud University.
Do you think the protesters were right to barricade themselves inside the university, or is there a more peaceful way to deal with it? Tell us in the comments below.
