Prime minister Dick Schoof was heckled by demonstrators as he delivered a speech opening the academic year at the University of Twente.

Two protesters held up a Palestinian flag and shouted “never again fascism” before being escorted from the room as Schoof addressed an audience at the Wilminktheater.

Around 30 demonstrators gathered outside the building beforehand to greet Schoof with banners stating “Schoof go home”, “No complicity in genocide” and “Not my PM”.

Students were also protesting against the cuts to the education budget announced by the Dutch government. The university in Enschede recently announced it was laying off 46 staff in its faculty of applied sciences as part of an “unavoidable” restructuring.

Schoof said he had spoken to demonstrators outside the theatre beforehand, but had not expected to satisfy their objections.

“There is too much at stake, in the Netherlands and in the world,” he said. “I am listening, but I would greatly appreciate the same in return.”

Budget cuts

The prime minister also acknowledged that the impact of the budget cuts would be felt by academics and students. Some staff boycotted the event, leaving their seats empty as a form of protest against Schoof.

“I could tell you that many things will carry on as they always have done, that ‘less’ is not the same as ‘nothing,’” Schoof said in his speech.

“But that changes nothing about how you feel or the impact that your institutions are experiencing.”

Wieteke Willemen, a professor in the department of natural resources, told campus newspaper UToday she was not joining the ceremonial procession that marks the start of the academic year.

“I would rather spend those few hours attending to my department, where we are bracing ourselves for a reorganisation in which 10 per cent of my colleagues are being forcibly laid off,” she said. “A direct effect of Schoof’s policies.”

Protesters also disrupted caretaker defence minister Ruben Brekelmans’ opening day speech at Eindhoven University of Technology. The demonstrators shouted slogans accusing the Dutch government of complicity in genocide in Gaza, with one saying Brekelmans had “blood on his hands”.

Jewish students “excluded”

Brekelmans responded with a plea for dialogue: “Let us keep talking and not shout at each other,” he said.

The opening day ceremony at the University of Amsterdam was cut short after protesters interrupted the speech by rector magnificus Peter-Paul Verbeek, who raised concerns about the intimidation of Jewish students on campus.

“They have told me how they have taken off their star of David, left their kippahs at home and felt lonely and excluded,” he said.

“The fact that these things are being experienced at our university, a place that is supposed to make space for openness, connections and safety for all students and colleagues, is extremely concerning.”