Five students continue hunger strike against arms exports to Israel. A group of five students have been on a hunger strike for over a week in front of Christiansborg in an attempt to get the government to stop all arms exports to Israel. One of the students, Nicholas Nyrop Vinthen, who studies literature at the University of Copenhagen, has stated that one of them had to be seen by a doctor after fainting due to low blood sugar. Vinthen expresses hope for initiating a dialogue with the government about the necessity of complying with international law and thus stopping arms exports to Israel. He expresses disappointment that the group has had to hunger strike for so long to draw attention to their cause.
On Wednesday afternoon, 22 authors, including Carsten Jensen, Asta Olivia Nordenhof, and Ursula Andkjær Olsen, will show their support by reading texts aloud. It is still unclear which texts will be read or what they will be about. According to Vinthen, they will continue the hunger strike until their bodies can no longer handle it, which will be evaluated by a doctor. “We are willing to go far, and we are willing to put our bodies at risk,” he says. Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt (Venstre) has expressed his willingness to meet with them on Thursday. On Tuesday, the group unsuccessfully tried to engage in a dialogue with Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Moderates) in front of Christiansborg.
The activists have, however, had discussions with politicians from the Socialist People’s Party (SF) and the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), and are trying to catch the attention of government officials as they pass by the group. The strikers are members of the Palestine Solidarity Network, Students Against Occupation, Global Action, and Jews for a Just Peace.