Police clear occupied lecture hall at Kassel University – special forces on duty

After protests by students against the change to the so-called civil clause at the University of Kassel, the police cleared an occupied lecture hall. According to a spokesman for the Kassel police, around 40 to 50 people had been in the lecture hall since the evening and did not leave it during the night.

The university management filed a criminal complaint for trespassing. Despite repeated requests from officials, the protesters did not leave the lecture hall. The emergency services finally cleared the room on Thursday night. The operation lasted until early morning. The 47 people still in the lecture hall at that point offered considerable resistance.

The protesters were carried out of the lecture hall and offered “some considerable resistance,” said the police spokesman. “According to current knowledge, six police officers were slightly injured during the operations,” the police said in a statement.

There were criminal charges against “three people from the group of occupiers” for assaulting law enforcement officers, the statement said. The identities of 44 people were determined and they were then released. “All 47 people are also being investigated for trespassing and violating the Hessian Freedom of Assembly Act.”

Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck told the German Press Agency that it was right and important to implement the eviction request promptly. "My sympathy goes out to the injured officers. There is no justification for violence against emergency services," said the CDU politician. "For me, the events in Kassel are another example of radicalization on the left-wing fringe. We must counter this with all legal means."

What is the dispute about?

The background is a dispute over direction at the university: the Senate softened the so-called civil clause in the new preamble to the basic regulations on Wednesday. Until now, it has required research, teaching and development to focus exclusively on civilian purposes and peaceful goals. The change could also enable the university to work with defense companies.

A spokesman for the university stated on Wednesday that the new text of the preamble “clarifies the university's mission of peace”: the emphasis is on the fact that research, teaching and transfer at the university serve peaceful purposes. The text also “details the difficulty of distinguishing between civil and military purposes within this research institution.”

Nevertheless, according to the police, around 100 students went to a lecture hall after the decision. Six of them had sat on an internal window ledge about five meters high and had to be brought back to the ground by special forces.