Leuven (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): KU Leuven’s attempt to evict students from the De Valk building was rejected by courts citing peaceful protest. A decision on the appeal is expected by September 2 ahead of classes.
The University of Leuven has started legal action at the Court of First Instance in Leuven to evict students who are occupying the De Valk building. The university claims that the students’ occupation is causing problems and disrupting university operations. However the judge rejected the university’s request for eviction. The decision was based on the fact that the occupation was peaceful and caused only minimal disruption. The judge determined that evicting the students would be unfair given the circumstances. The university then appealed the decision to the Court of appeal in Brussels. The appeal court supported the lower court’s ruling and sided with the students. The court stated that since the occupation was peaceful and did not cause significant problems the university’s request for eviction was unfair.
What are the implications of KU Leuven’s legal actions against student occupation of the De Valk building?
KU Leuven has started a legal process to clear its campus saying that a space currently occupied is meant for meetings, studying, relaxing and eating for over 5,000 students and staff and this has been disrupted for months. They claim this space is essential for the upcoming academic year. Some students had to be summoned for legal reasons and these students have been pushing for a complete boycott of Israeli institutions. On Friday 9th August a group of students and supporters rallied outside the courthouse to back the three students who were summoned waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like “Free free Palestine.” Hadisha Shoudoueva, one of the students expressed shock at the summons saying this is the third attempt to expel them from De Valk while ignoring collaborations with Israeli institutions. During the hearing when the judge asked why these specific students were summoned KU Leuven’s lawyer said it was because they were seen as “representatives of the protesting students” in the media.
The lawyer said that the case involves a group of people whose identities are unknown and they don’t want to specifically target the three students but feel they have no other choice. They set a schedule for the hearings with the students’ lawyer needing to respond by August 26. After that KU Leuven has three days to reply and a decision is expected by September 2 with hearings possibly on September 3 or 4. The judge aims to make a decision within two weeks,so everyone knows what will happen before classes start on September 23.
