GENEVA: Swiss police moved in early Tuesday to remove some 50 pro-Palestinian student protesters holed up in a Geneva university building for nearly a week, media reports said.

About 20 officers entered the UniMail building around 0300 GMT, a journalist from the Keystone-ATS news agency said.

“Most of the students were sleeping. After being gathered they were led to the underground parking garage,” Julie Zaugg, a journalist with LemanbleuTV channel, said on X.

She said they shouted pro-Palestinian slogans before being handcuffed and taken away in vans.

Geneva university officials had asked the protestors on Monday to vacate the premises and protest in a different manner.

Students demonstrations have gathered pace across Western Europe in recent weeks with protesters demanding an end to the Gaza bloodshed and to cut ties with Israel, taking their cue from demonstrations that have swept US campuses.

There have been similar protests in other Swiss universities and polytechnic schools including Lausanne, Berne, Basel and Zurich.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

35,173 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7, health ministry says

Hamas also seized hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza, including 36 the military says are dead.

Israel’s bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed at least 35,091 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.