Polish protesters in Warsaw talk of empathy with Palestinians

By Jo Harper

WARSAW (AA) - Over a hundred protesters gathered outside the gates of the University of Warsaw on Tuesday in support of Palestinians suffering amid Israel's war in Gaza.

“As a Polish person, I often think of Polish history, comparing it to what I see in the news about Palestine,” Agnieszka, a student from the university at the protest who didn’t give their full name, told Anadolu.

“We as Polish people have also been under occupation. They also tried to erase the existence, the culture of Polish people. And the same thing now is happening to the Palestinians. So that’s why I think that Polish people and Palestinian people share the same bonds, that Polish people should understand and support Palestine, because they know how it is to be occupied.”

Students have been occupying Autonomia Park at the back of one of the university buildings on Nowy Swiat Street in Warsaw for the last 12 days. The 20 or so tents are slept in on a rotating basis by an international mix of Polish, Palestinian and European students, said one of the organizers.

The students sent a letter with demands to the rector of the University of Warsaw demanding that it cease cooperation with Israeli academic institutions and other organizations associated with the occupation of Palestine. They also want the university to issue a public condemnation of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip and occupation of the enclave.

The Polish government has been critical of Israeli policy after the death in April of a Polish volunteer working for the World Central Kitchen aid agency in Gaza who, along with six colleagues, was killed in an air attack by the Israeli army. But it has not yet followed several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a state.

“The students are occupying part of their university to push the university to divest from Israeli companies in order to put more pressure and cut educational ties,” said Sanad Abu-Assaf, a Jordanian living in Warsaw.

According to the students, the university authorities closed the park area 10 minutes after the first protesters arrived and university guards prevented people from leaving the site. They said they did not have access to toilets or drinking water.