Oxford, UK
Reuters
British students set up pro-Palestinian protest encampments on Oxford and Cambridge universities’ historic campuses on a cloudy spring Monday, in a show of solidarity with their American peers.
By early morning, students had erected dozens of brightly coloured tents on the lawns outside the relatively dull, yellow, 19th-century neo-Gothic Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
A woman walks near tents at Oxford University, outside Oxford University Museum of Natural History, as students occupy parts of British university campuses to protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amidst the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Oxford, Britain, on 6th May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Hollie Adams
Standing in front of the camps, some of which bore the black, white and green Palestinian flag, the students said they were joining 100 universities across the world to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians so far.
The footage of protests in Britain was in stark contrast to the jarring scenes from the US over the past couple of weeks, where riot police wielding batons and flash-bang grenades dispersed and arrested hundreds of protesters.
There was no visible police presence at the Oxford protest, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene.
The Columbia University protests in New York, which drew national attention, have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the US and elsewhere, with students calling for a ceasefire and demanding their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.
“In terms of why we’re doing this style of protest now is that solidarity is so important in every movement,” 19-year old Rosy Wilson, a student at the University of Oxford, said in an interview.
By replicating the student protests in America, “we are showing a united force where we are united with them, we are united with Gaza and we are united with this movement all over the world,” she added.
An Oxford University spokesperson said the university, whose many alumni include the likes of Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson and authors Oscar Wilde and JRR Tolkien, was aware of the demonstration.
“We respect our students’ and staff members’ right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests,” the spokesperson said. “We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy…There is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford.”
Students gather at an encampment at the University of Copenhagen’s City Campus, at the old Municipal Hospital, and join the global encampments in support of Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Copenhagen Denmark, on 6th May, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Jacob Gronholt Pedersen
Meanwhile, students in Belgium and the Netherlands occupied parts of the universities of Ghent and Amsterdam on Monday to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.
At a campus of University of Amsterdam (UvA) in downtown Amsterdam, hundreds of students set up camp, pitching dozens of tents, playing in drum circles, and barricading access with wooden pallets.
The students want UvA and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) to stop their partnerships with Israel.
Painting a banner with a friend, 21-year-old political science student Layla said the protest was about solidarity.
“As an individual, I feel I can’t do much…so every little bit feels like I am at least doing something. Just being here shows we don’t support the actions of the Dutch government”, she said, declining to give her last name for fear of reprisals.
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A UvA spokesperson said that while it condoned the protest during the day, it will not tolerate students staying the night.
“If students decide to spend the night, we will report it to the police”, he said.
VU did not reply to a request for comment.
In neighbouring Belgium, some 100 students also occupied a part of Ghent’s university UGent.
Footage shared on social media shows students surrounded by tents chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has to go”, in one of UGent’s buildings.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians want for a state – in a 1967 war from Jordan and Egypt and has since built settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and steadily expanded them.
Several UGent employees and professors have signed an open letter supporting the protest and condemning the university’s decision to continue research collaboration with Israel.
“UGent never gives permission to occupy buildings, but if this happen, a general framework of agreements applies”, rector Rik Van de Walle said in a statement, adding that UGent subjects universities with which it collaborates to a human rights investigation.
The Ghent university students said the protest would last until Wednesday, May 8th.
