PSP at a college in Lisbon where a student protest is taking place

This Thursday evening, PSP went with the device to the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Lisbon, where a student protest has been taking place since Tuesday, a police source and a spokesman for the occupation authorities confirmed to Lusa.

Joana Fraga explained to Luca that the police arrived at the premises at 22:00 this Thursday and said that “on instructions from management [da Faculdade] had orders to order “participants in the occupation that is taking place in the college atrium to leave” and which demands “an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an end to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.”

“Now about eight students are resisting inside. Outside, we are holding a show of support with all the remaining students who were also at the camp, and others who, individually or in groups, came to show support,” the voice of the occupation explained this door.

Another source of this student movement, who wished to remain anonymous, told Lusa that a PSP had appeared in the college, numbering between 20 and 25 agents, and that there were about 50 people standing at the door of the building in solidarity with the students who still remained inside the college.

Joana Fraga also emphasized that on Tuesday, when this occupation began, a meeting was held with the management, and “there was a commitment not to evict or issue a dispersal order as long as normal school activities are maintained and this occupation does not interfere with normal teaching activities “

A representative of the activists assured that until Thursday “all classes were held as usual.”

“There’s been a disconnect in some ways that we’re still trying to understand, we’re still trying to have dialogue and contact management to understand what happened,” he added.

Lusa contacted the Lisbon Metropolitan Command of the PSP (Comtelis), which confirmed the presence of a police device on site, without providing details about the reason or result of this presence.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the occupation authorities said the protest had continued, with the number of tents (15) almost doubling from the previous day.

Movements of Portuguese students and high school students, including the Student Climate Strike and Students for Justice in Palestine, have called for the occupation, joining student protests that began on North American campuses and have already spread to universities in several European cities, including Canada, Mexico and even Australia are demanding an end to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, officials at the Institute of Education and the Faculty of Psychology, both based in the same building, said academic activities were proceeding normally despite the student protest.

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was sparked by an attack on Israeli soil by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and captured two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

Since then, Israel has launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed about 35,000 people, according to Hamas, which has ruled the small Palestinian enclave since 2007.