Arzu Merali on News Review (Press TV) talking about the crackdown on political activism against Muslims in Austria and the consequences that has for pro-Palestinian activism.*
Watch the interview below the text. From Press TV:
“A group calling itself „Students Against Genocide“ protested inside the University of Vienna, Austria, the biggest German-speaking university in the world. They demanded to speak with the President, who they consider as complicit in the Genocide. The President refused and called the police.
“Since October 7, several lectures and seminars about Palestine and West Asia’s history and politics were cancelled by the University of Vienna’s Presidential Office. For this reason, the students demanded, „Let Us Learn. Most recently, a lecture series on the history of Palestine with several prominent academics was cancelled by order of the President of the University.
Students held banners calling for an end to the Genocide, demanded that all lectures be reinstated, and waved Palestinian flags.
They also protested against the funding of a research project called „Documentation Centre of Political Islam“, a notorious Islamophobic, racist and Zionist think tank which annually publishes the „Islam Map“, where they indicate Islamic, Arab and Iranian cultural and social centres, calling them „Islamic Terrorist venues“. The annual Islam Map is published with the support of the University of Vienna.
“The students also demanded an end to all cooperation between the University of Vienna and Israeli University and a full boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The University of Vienna has a close exchange agreement with the Hebrew University in Israel and other academic institutions in the Zionist entity.
“The protest was broken up by the police, who encircled and held the students for almost an hour. The police officers refused to provide their ID numbers, which was unlawful. However, they informed the pro-Palestinian students that they would be charged and fined for „public disorder“. After an hour, they were escorted out of the university.”
* Note from Arzu: I had about two minutes notice before going on air that the other participant in the review who had been booked was Massoud Shadjareh (my husband). He had no notice and was caught unaware as we were introduced. Needless to say it was a bit of a shock.
