Brawl during Nijmegen intro event is not an isolated incident

Three people have been arrested following a brawl that broke out at the introduction market for new students in Nijmegen. Members of the right-wing nationalist student organisation GNSV were injured in the incident.

Politics: Fascists welcome, communists banned

Information markets for first-year students always host all kinds of clubs, student corps and associations, as well as local branches of idealistic organisations eager to recruit new members. The same applies to political parties, which sometimes leads to political conflicts.

Last year, the Communist Youth Movement of The Netherlands was not welcome at the information market in Utrecht because it allegedly had the wrong position on the war in Ukraine. This turned out to be a misconception as it had actually condemned the Russian invasion. It received apologies from the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and Utrecht University, and are once again welcome this year.

On the other hand, the Forum for Democracy (FvD) did have a stand at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam market last year, which many people found objectionable. A local student union denounced the party as fascist, racist, Islamophobic and homophobic. Rector Jeroen Geurts was unaware that the FvD would have a stand there, but he was also unsure if he could ban the party. After all, GroenLinks was also there. Enquiries have confirmed that political parties are no longer allowed to be present at the information market at all anymore.