Police on Thursday cleared parts of Humboldt University (HU) in Berlin that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian activists and said late in the evening that the occupation is over.
Officers forcibly opened locked and partially barricaded doors, a police spokeswoman said on Thursday evening.
The police also escorted the people who left the building voluntarily outside and established their identities.
A spokesperson later said that a total of 150 protesters had occupied rooms at the Institute of Social Sciences since Wednesday. There were no reports on anyone having been injured.
Shouts of "HU, shame on you" could be heard and, according to a dpa reporter, the atmosphere was heated, as officers worked to get the protesters out.
Officers indicated that some 50 protesters remained ensconced at Humboldt University for a while even after the occupied rooms had been cleared, a police spokesman said on Thursday evening. But police later gave the all clear.
Police imposed around 130 short-term restrictions on movement in the course of the evacuation of the university, according to the spokesman.
The identity of the occupants had been established, he said.
On Thursday afternoon, university President Julia von Blumenthal held closed-door discussions with academics and occupiers. Von Blumenthal also spoke to the police several times.
Activists of the group Student Coalition Berlin were behind the occupation.
The activists said that around 100 people spent the night at the educational institution, one of the three major universities in the German capital.
Von Blumenthal expressed her regret that no agreement was reached with pro-Palestinian activists following the clearing of occupied university rooms.
"I'm not sure whether it would have succeeded, but I had the impression that we had taken a good step with this dialogue," von Blumenthal said on Thursday after talks with the pro-Palestinian activists.
"The order then came from the very top to end the occupation. I followed this instruction," she said, explaining she was referring to Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner when asked.
Wegner had earlier posted a strongly worded message on the social media platform X.
"I expect the @HumboldtUni to take responsibility and act consistently now. Teaching must continue! Our universities are places of knowledge and critical discourse - and not lawless spaces for anti-Semites + terror sympathisers," Wegner wrote.
The university would not press charges for trespassing, as the temporary occupation had been tolerated, von Blumenthal added.
She could not yet comment on questions of damage to property as she had not yet had the opportunity to view the building in full.
She said of the spokesman's talks with the activists that it had been possible, with moderation and mutual respect, to talk about where the two sides "might even be able to come closer together and also to talk about what divides [them]."
