By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Around 20 students from the Portuguese "End the Genocide, End Fossils," movement occupied the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
“We are occupying the ministry because what’s happening in Palestine and the imminent climate collapse are maximum expressions of how our institutions are failing,” wrote activist group Student Climate Strike Lisbon in a related post on Instagram.
Many of the protestors were linked together with metal tubes, making it difficult for police to remove them.
In the social media statement, activists said they were “watching a live genocide” in Palestine and accused the government of “doing nothing.”
According to a statement sent to Portuguese media outlets, the students demanded an end to the “genocide” in Palestine and for Portugal to cut all diplomatic and financial relations with Israel.
Videos showed Portuguese police trying to remove the protesters from the ministry building.
In April, related activists staged a similar protest in Portugal’s Environment Ministry. They refused to leave until the environment minister committed to “ensuring an end to fossil fuels by 2030" and listening to their plan.
“Instead of listening to us, they again chose to repress students who were just fighting for their lives,” read the organization’s statement from the time. “Fifteen minutes later, the students were being handcuffed, arrested and taken away in police vans.”