Swedish police arrests 20 pro-Palestinian activists who barricaded themselves inside university

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – Swedish police arrested 20 pro-Palestinian activists who barricaded themselves inside the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, local media reported Friday.

Many people gathered outside the building to show support for the activists. Numerous law enforcement personnel, including officers with dogs, were seen at the scene.

A large number of people entered the KTH building around noon, barricading themselves with chairs and tables in one of the student union buildings on campus.

The police cordoned off the building where the activists hung Palestinian flags and chanted "Palestine, Palestine". Some demonstrators shouted "Free Palestine" and hung Palestinian flags in the windows.

The police had to break into the locked space and carry the masked activists out. The activists are likely to be prosecuted for trespassing and disobeying the police, according to public broadcaster SVT Nyheter.

"About 20 people have been arrested, all of them are suspected of serious illegal trespassing," a police officer Anders Bryngelsson told SVT.

In a post on Instagram from the activist group "KTH for Palestine," a video shows a flag being unfurled from the union building.

"I am here because I oppose what is happening in Gaza and Palestine right now and my university's participation in it all by collaborating with universities in Israel that directly help in the genocide that is going on right now," KTH student Omar told local news agency TT.

The protests erupted around the globe after campus encampments have shaken US universities in recent weeks.

Pro-Palestine campus protests have been persistent in the US since April 17, when students at Columbia University in New York launched an encampment in solidarity with Gaza and demanded that their school divest from Israel.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at US campuses since last month amid heavily polarized debates over the right to protest, the limits of free speech and accusations of antisemitism.

Demonstrations and sit-ins are also being held on campuses in parts of Europe, including France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, amid a wider call against Israeli attacks on Gaza that have killed almost 36,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured more than 83,074 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.