Academics for Palestine Uppsala is appalled by the reprehensible violence that has been unleashed on our networks of solidarity and support this week.
Less than 48 hours ago, during a peaceful demonstration protesting the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, a supporter of ours was aggressively pinned to a police vehicle and while subdued was subsequently tasered twice just metres from the steps of Uppsala Central Station.
24 hours ago, our comrades at KTH were violently pursued by an absurdly disproportionate force of police where K9 units were irresponsibly released and permitted to attack students and demonstrators without restrain.
Finally, today the 30th of May, our comrades in Lund were awakened by scores of police, police vehicles and civilian-clothed police officers, intent on removing the peacefully protesting students by any means necessary. Indeed, in the images released in the early hours of the morning, we can see clear as day the excessive use of force that manifested in strangulation, assault using police weapons and the absolute disregard for bodily autonomy; these acts have resulted in an array of mild to serious injuries including concussion.
These examples of gross police misconduct appear to be increasingly common in the Swedish state’s repression of anti-genocide demonstrators. AFP Uppsala is especially disturbed by the total disregard for these students and supporters right to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and right to protest; these are basic rights that ought to be affirmed by every and any so-called democracy; however, it is quickly becoming apparent to us that these rights are afforded by the state on quite a selective basis.
University administrations across the Swedish state ought to be ashamed of their fellow post-secondary institutions, but again, this too is not the case. In fact, the AFP network is witnessing a pattern of behaviour that implies Swedish academic tradition holds precedent over the tens of thousands of lives destroyed by the Zionist regime and their extremely complicit allies. CONTINUES IN COMMENTS
