Swiss student group condemns campus occupations

The Association of Swiss Student Organisations has said that sit-in protests in connection with the Middle East conflict have, through some discriminatory demands and calls for violence, “lost all legitimacy”. The line between anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and discrimination should never be crossed, according to a statement issued by the association on Thursday. Calls for a blanket boycott of scientific collaboration with Israeli universities, such as those made by some of the protestors, must be rejected, the association said. Academic freedom means a fact-based diversity of opinion, it said. + Read more: our coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian war However, the right to protest and the freedom of assembly must also be upheld, the umbrella organisation of Swiss student bodies wrote. In its opinion, protests and occupations at universities are legitimate and important means of expressing opinion. The association holds the universities responsible for the current escalation of the ...