Climate activists in Eindhoven University of Technology occupied a second room on Tuesday morning. After more than twenty hours they still have not heard from the management of the university. “We will stay until our demands are met,” says Liz van der Jagt.
Of the twelve activists who have occupied a conference room since Monday morning, five have spent the night at the university. At eleven o’clock in the evening it was tense: would they be taken out or could they stay? They were ignored and allowed to spend the night in their occupied conference room.
These are the demands of the protesters at TU/e:
- The university must ‘sever ties’ with the fossil fuel industry.
- Transparency about the so-called ‘third stream’, or the money flow that the university receives from the business community.
- The university must declare a ‘climate emergency’
On Tuesday morning, three students are busy with a new banner. One for the study room that they will occupy an hour later. And with that they occupy a second space in the Atlas building. A guard sees it happen: “Are they now also in the other pen, the asos.” But the activists are not stopped.
“We are still ignored,” says Liz van der Jagt. “We will stay until our demands are met. Just a conversation is not enough. Even if they choose only one of our requirements, they visibly get to work.”
Liz and her fellow activists expect to be at TU/e until at least the weekend. “I think we will hear from the university management by the weekend. They have now allowed us one night here, the next obstacle will be the weekend. Because then the building will be closed for two days. So before then they will talk to us.”
Save food
The occupation has therefore been taking place since half past twelve on Monday morning. “We deliberately chose this space. It’s in the middle of the building, everyone can see it. And this is an important meeting room, it is not for nothing that the portrait of King Willem-Alexander hangs here.”
The activists, who also study at the university, explored the spaces a week in advance. “We carefully checked whether there were no locks on the door,” says Van der Jagt. “And in this building there are actually only locks on the toilet doors.” And so the occupation was a breeze.
While Liz checks whether they can easily enter the second room, Thea arrives with a few garbage bags full of food. “This food is one or two days out of date. We can now find out to see what is still edible,” explains Van der Jagt. “This food was rescued from garbage cans at the supermarkets.” For example, there are salads, sandwiches, sushi and wraps in the garbage bags. Everyone can now grab free food on a table in front of the occupied areas. “Smell it first to see if it’s still good”, is the advice.
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Activists occupy TU/e meeting room: ‘We will stay here’