Police clear occupied lecture hall at Kassel University after civil clause change

Senate change sparks occupation

The university senate voted on Wednesday, 4 November, to change the civil clause in the preamble of its basic regulations, according to the university. The rule in force since 2013 committed research, teaching and development to exclusively civil and peaceful aims, and asked researchers to orient their work toward civil uses. The new draft removes that explicit reference to civil purposes, which critics say opens the door to cooperation with arms companies. A university spokesperson said the new wording makes the university's peace mandate more precise and addresses the difficulty of separating civil and military uses within research. A first reading in the summer had already approved a new version, and the final decision had been postponed from the summer.

Around 100 students enter a lecture hall

Several hundred students protested against the change, chanting 'Shame on you' and 'Zivilklausel bleibt'. Several dozen students initially went into a lecture hall, and police later put the number who entered on Wednesday afternoon at around 100. Police, university president Ute Clement, chancellor Oliver Fromm and a university legal adviser spoke with the students. The university then filed a complaint for trespass, and about 50 people stayed in the hall despite those talks. A police spokesperson said 40 to 50 people remained inside from the evening and through the night.

Police clear the hall before dawn

Police began clearing the hall at around 3:30 on Thursday, 5 November, and by about 6:30 it was empty according to police. Police said around 50 people were still inside when the clearing began. The police statement said some occupiers resisted considerably:

“some of whom resisted police measures considerably and could only be removed from the building by physical force.”

Six occupiers sitting on a window ledge about five metres above the ground were brought down safely by special high-intervention units. An early report from Polizei Kassel said two officers had been lightly injured, including by kicks, but the later police statement put the number of lightly injured officers at six.

Investigations and protest outside

Police are investigating 47 occupiers for trespass and for violating Hesse's assembly law. Three of them also face criminal complaints for assaulting enforcement officers, according to the police statement issued early on Thursday. Outside the university building, several dozen students protested peacefully after the clearing until the assembly dissolved shortly after 7 a.m. Protesters link the change to pressure from arms companies, a view critics have voiced ahead of and since the vote.

Occupiers under investigation47

Officers lightly injured6

Complaints for assault on officers3

Occupiers under investigation

47

Officers lightly injured

6

Complaints for assault on officers

3

Data from the article text