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Educational Strike in Germany: Summary  Monday [15/06]:
"Campus-Camps" were set up on various campuses in about 15 cities the Institute for Philosophical studies in Heidelberg was occupied + later that day the Romanic Institute was occupied as well the main building of the Ruhr - University in Bochum was blocked by activists all entries of buildings on campus Grifflenberg of the University of Wuppertal were blocked by students the complete Otto-Suhr Institute for political sciences [which is part of the Free University Berlin] together with the Institute for Eastern European studies were occupied in Berlin the institute for architecture of the Technical University of Berlin sit-in (~ 30 people) blocking the entry of the state chancellery
in Düsseldorf more than 100 people at the warm-up demonstration in Düsseldorf about 500 people gathered on the campus in Bochum for a spontaneous demonstration an "alternative university" was kicked off in Mainz with more than 60 alternatives seminars and workshops + the main university building was blocked with barricades entries to the Philosophical Institute of the University of Münster were blocked with barricades the whole University of Hamburg was on strike + various entries were blocked and one building [Raue Haus] occupied + various streets were blocked various buildings at the University of Hildesheim were blocked a protest camp set up by pupils was broken up by the school administration of the Christophorus-Gymnasium (secondary school) in Verne a street party took place an blocked the university street in Berlin after a general assembly at the Technical University of Berlin 1,200 students spontaneously took to the streets and blocked streets; some students were arrested (news report + pictures) students at the "Kunsthochschule Weißensee" [University of Arts Weißensee-Berlin] removed all tables and chairs inside the halls and created space for alternative circles of discussion students occupied the 4th floor of a lecture building of the Humboldt University in Berlin during a general assembly students at the University of Kassel agreed to join the "educational strike" + a computer hall as well as the chancellors' office were occupied faculty of humanities at the Leibniz-University in Hanover was occupied the largest lecture building of the University of Halle was occupied by students at night more than 150 school students demonstrate against cutting the time frame to achieve A'levels by one year in Düsseldorf.
Tuesday [16/06]:
The complete faculty of social sciences at the University of Hildesheim went on strike + later on 3,000 people joined a rally in the city centre all entries to the universitiy presidents' office were blocked in Göttingen various buildings on campus of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena were occupied; video 1, video 2 blockades at the University of Wuppertal continue all tables and chairs were removed from lecture halls and put inside the cafeteria by activists at the Heinrich Heine university in Düsseldorf various institutes at the University of Halle were occupied, including the Institute for Ethnology and the Institute for Speech Communication a lecture building at the Free University of Berlin was occupied the whole Alice-Salomon University of Applied Sciences was blocked and partly occupied + alternative seminars were arranged 100 students spontaneously decided to kick off a demonstration on campus in Dresden the university presidents' office at the Free University of Berlin was occupied by hundreds of students + a few hours later they were evicted by police forces; pressure from students outside was too strong, so no IDs were checked and the three students arrested were freed again hundreds of students went to visit schools at asked school students to join the "educational strike" in Hanover close to 100 students dressed as sheep protested against the Bachelor degree in Essen close to 1,000 students and pupils took to the streets for free education in Giessen, main junctions were blocked for hours after a general assembly at the University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt (Main) 300 students spontaneously expressed their protest on the streets more than 30 students at the University of Tübingen occupied the rectors' office 200 students joined the university senat hearing and declared the "Free University of Heidelberg" together with lecturers in the early morning some 40 students blocked the rectors' office in Göttingen with bike locks, sit-ins and bicycles + the blockade was kept until the afternoon the federal parliament of Lower Saxony (in Hanover) was blocked by students in protest against education policies.
Wednesday [17/06]:
Protests and demonstrations in 100 cities across Germany; in the end more than 250,000 students, pupils, parents and teachers took to the streets; a complete list of the demonstrations and the sizes can be accessed here: http://www.bildungsstreik.net/demozahlen; for example clips from Heidelberg, Hamburg, Münster, Hanover, Wiesbaden, Berlin, Munich, Halle, Göttingen, Augsburg, Cologne in Dortmund students stormed the town hall and occupied it temporarily some school directors prohibited pupils from joining the demonstrations; they were locked inside the schools the federal parliament of Rhineland Palatinate (in Mainz) was occupied during a demonstration, the demands were read out and two people arrested during the protest, video the university presidents' office in Göttingen was occupied by students a branch of the Deutsche Bank was blocked by hundreds of students in Minden the ministry for science and arts in Dresden was occupied a prestige building of the Technical University of Darmstadt was barricaded to protest against a "two-class" public education system and the state support to create an elitist group of universities/schools 700 students occupied the rectors' office at the University of Heidelberg a local government building was occupied in Münster during an attempt to get pupils from schools in Nürnberg to join the demonstrations some pupils were attacked by police forces with pepper spray 2,000 students blocked streets in Essen and were attacked by the police; at least 10 students were detained and IDs recorded the local education authority in Marburg was occupied by more than 100 students and pupils; they drafted a press release together and left the building one hour later again at least one protesters was injured and arrested in Bielefeld during a police attack hundreds of students blocked the access road to the highway in Marburg for one hour after students were attacked with pepper spray and one was detained one student was arrested during a spontaneous demonstration in Würzburg during a demonstration near the town hall in Hamburg pupils were attacked by the police and six 14years old pupils were detained; all together close to 20 students and pupils were detained in Hamburg during the protests various buildings on campus of the Technical University of Berlin were occupied and barricaded hundreds of pupils temporarily occupied some school buildings in Augsburg the inner city of Tübingen was blocked by hundreds of students for 4 hours by a student sit-in two students were temporarily arrested during road blockades in Eberswalde the academic examination office of the University of Hanover was temporarily occupied.
Thursday [18/06]:
The main lecture hall at the University of Konstanz was occupied; consequently the university had to call off a PR event the Institute of Political Sciences was occupied in Marburg the AfE Tower on campus of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt was occupied by hundreds of students entries at the ministry of science in Potsdam were blocked by students; video hundreds of students blocked tram rails in Würzburg; police broke up the blockades and arrested 7 students banks across Germany were "visited" and blocked to protest against the billions of Euros of tax payers' money going to banks, although for years we are told that there is no money for public education; during the actions students were arrested in some cities; since these actions were announced in advance many banks were closed or protected by police forces for the whole day 150 students gathered for a protest on bicycles through the city centre of Berlin activists disruppted a speech by the director of the Commerzbank (Mr. Blässing) at a school; each time he mentioned the need to support the development of an elite in science and education the activists cheered and applauded loudly the main entrance to the University of Bielefeld was blocked by more than 100 students all chairs and tables were removed from the lecture halls at the Evangelical University of Applied Sciences in Bochum and sculptures were build with them outside more than 1,500 pupils demonstrated in Soltau-Fallingbostel more than 50 pupils entered the town hall in Augsburg, enrolled a huge banner and declared it to be the base of the "board of students"; shortly after the activists were removed by the police 1,000 people blocked a branch of the Deutsche Bank and Hypo-Real-Estate in Berlin; video clip 1, video clip 2, video clip 3 in Hamburg 50 education activists temporarily occupied a ship; shortly after they were evicted and surrounded by police
all together 9 banks were "visited" in Hamburg alone, video 1, video 2 during a session on the "educational strike" within the state parliament of Hesse (in Wiesbaden) activists enrolled a big banner and shouted their demands; the session had to be stopped and the activists violently removed.
Friday [19/06]:
The "Conference of the Ministers for Education and Cultural Affairs" (KMK) held a meeting in Berlin today; a rally "Block KMK – Fight Bologna" was arranged; close to 1,000 people attended it and the conference was aborted prematurely due to the protests the occupation of the rectors' office in Heidelberg was evicted - details of all 150 students were recorded; the administration withdrew the charges.
Saturday [20/06]:
More than 2,000 students and pupils demonstrated in Düsseldorf; junctions were blocked in the city centre. All occupations were evicted by the police or were peacefully given up by the occupiers. Right now local groups and alliances are considering how to continue. At many places various study groups were created and activists are now looking forward to the next nationwide meeting in the middle of July in Bonn to evaluate the week of protest together.
The Global Week of Action in November might be a good opportunity for the next big wave of protests.
http://www.emancipating-education-for-all.org/content/bildungsstreik Bildungsstreik 2009
In Solidarity, Mo. |
