A small anti-abortion protest on campus drew a much larger counter-protest this afternoon. The police managed to keep the groups apart. There were no incidents.

With a bagpipe and flyers, some 10 activists tried to attract students’ attention during the lunch break at the university library – largely without success. The protesters, all men, were affiliated with the conservative Christian TFP Student Action group and they were campaigning against abortion. The same group also protested earlier this week on the Wageningen University campus, leading to some pushing and shoving, according to De Gelderlander.

Soon a larger group of counter-protesters from the pro-Palestine movement, largely recognisable by the keffiyeh they wore, gathered a short distance away. They responded with slogans such as ‘Boss in your own belly!’, ‘Whose campus? Our campus’ and ‘Siamo tutti antifascisti!’.

Police dogs

As the groups moved closer together, police officers positioned themselves between the two parties with a van. On Erasmuslaan, cars and buses were forced to line up and make a detour. In front of approximately 100 bystanders, slogans were shouted back and forth, with the counter-protesters clearly dominating.

Shortly after 1 p.m., some 15 police officers and two police dogs drove the counter-protesters together. In the process, truncheons were used. The reason for this response was that the counter-protest was disturbing public order, a police spokesperson informed Vox. ‘The official protest (by TFP Student Action, ed.) was compromised by the counter-protest. We informed the counter-protesters that they had to leave. When they failed to do so, we decided to act.’

Counter-protesters were rounded up against a wall of the university library. Shortly afterwards, the anti-abortion campaigners left the campus.

This post may be updated later.