Dozens of pro-Palestinian camps are rising at universities across the country as American campuses are paralyzed by violent clashes at student camps expressing solidarity with Gaza.
Newcastle University was the latest to attract crowds who pitched tents around university buildings and raised Palestinian flags in protest at the ruinous war in the Levant.
Leeds students also announced plans to camp “indefinitely” outside their student union, occupying land in front of the building and pledge remain until the university, in his opinion, “is no longer complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
In Bristol, hand-painted banners were placed between tents, adorned with messages of defiance as students held down his university to cut ties with arms companies and support calls for a ceasefire while the war continues.
Tents, banners and gazebos have also been set up in Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Warwick with protesters refusing to leave until universities meet their demands.
People gather during a protest in support of the Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, at Newcastle University in Newcastle on May 1.
Protesters say they are willing to remain “indefinitely” at universities across the UK in solidarity.
A protest at Newcastle University organized by supporters of Palestine
British universities have organized sit-ins similar to those emerging in the United States.
Newcastle University was the latest to attract crowds who pitched tents around university buildings.
Last night, Jewish community leaders urged universities to close camps over fears that Jewish students could be “harassed and excluded.”
The University of Bristol told The Bristol Tab that they “fully respect the rights of our students to protest peacefully within the law.”
The group ‘bristoloccupy4palestine’ took part in an occupation of university buildings last month, but the university closed them down, the outlet reported.
One member of the group said they were “avoiding… making too many demands” at the moment until they can “develop in a more democratic way.”
In Leeds, protesters from the Leeds Students’ Coalition Against Apartheid demonstrated against what they claimed was the university’s “complicity in Israel’s crimes against humanity”.
“Their associations with Israeli arms companies and universities are especially dangerous in light of Israel’s relentless bombing campaigns in Gaza and escalating settler violence in occupied Palestine,” the coalition said in a statement. statement.
A banner reading ‘FDI off campus’ was seen at the event where activists plan to organize fundraisers and trainings on knowing your rights by the end of the week.
In February, a Jewish chaplain at the University of Leeds was forced to go into hiding with his young family after receiving death threats for his role as an IDF reservist.
In Sheffield, a coalition of “staff, students and alumni” from Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam universities started a similar camp.
They said there had been a mass abandonment of the conferences and that many were prepared to camp “indefinitely” in support of Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have been killed in Israeli ground and air strikes since Hamas’ bloody incursion into Israel on October 7.
‘We have gazebos and picnic tables and a generator for power. “We will stay indefinitely until the university meets our demands,” one student reportedly said. The Guardian.
And in Newcastle, students protested an alleged partnership between the university and defense and security company Leonardo SpA, which claimed to have a stake in the production of equipment for Israeli aircraft.
Last October, the company opened a technology research site in the city and hosted an event attended by at least one university faculty member, although it was unclear to what extent the company worked directly with the institution.
Leonardo did it launch a data science partnership with the National Data Innovation Center hosted at the university last summer.
Last weekend, students at the University of Warwick staged a sit-in protest, acknowledging adjacent demonstrations in the United States and calling on their peers in Britain to do more to “step up.”
David Maguire, chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA), said the protests had so far been peaceful, but agreed that US-style clashes “could happen here”, The Guardian reported.
More camps are planned to be set up at universities such as Swansea, Edinburgh and Lancaster.
Jonathan Turner, chief executive of Lawyers for Israel UK, said: “Universities should take immediate legal action to remove these camps before Jewish and other students are harassed and excluded.”
A pro-Palestinian protester (C) is beaten by counter-protesters who attack a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), on May 1.
Counterprotesters hold objects at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, May 1.
A spokesperson for the Jewish charity Community Security Trust said: “While the right to protest is important, university authorities must ensure that other students do not have their classes or exams disrupted, and that any examples of hate speech or support for terrorism be dealt with firmly.” .’
The demonstrations follow protests at American universities, where demonstrations have turned ugly and counterprotesters are attacking camps in force.
At UCLA, a masked pro-Israel group ambushed a pro-Palestinian camp, shocking footage showing figures in hoodies beating activists with bats and setting off flares.
The police had established control at dawn on Wednesday. The university canceled classes in response to the attack.
Hundreds of protesters have also been arrested in Columbia amid similar events, and police officers clear camps and an occupied building.