Oxford and Cambridge University students have set up pro-Palestinian encampments on campus lawns.
They were erected outside King’s College in Cambridge and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford – where protestors held placards explaining their six demands for university bosses.
The six demands are: Disclose all finances’ divers from Israeli genocide apartheid and occupation; overhaul university investment policy; boycott israeli genocide apartheid and occupation’ stop banking with Barclays; support Palestinian-led rebuilding of education in Gaza.
At Oxford University, the “liberated zone encampment” comprises tents set up on damp ground, where numerous protestors navigate through mud to participate in sessions on Palestine and “well-being circles”. They chanted: “Come rain or shine, we will free Palestine.”
Kendall Gardner, a Jewish student at the university, told Sky News she was “really inspired by the events that have been happening across the world”.
She told Sky News: “The US started a global chain of student activism for Palestine.
“We have six demands for this protest – the top line is to demand closure of all university-wide financial assets that benefit Israel. We will stay here until those demands are met. I brought a big bag, I have everything a girl could need.”
In a joint statement, Oxford Action for Palestine and Cambridge for Palestine called for the universities to stop lending “financial and moral support” to the Israeli government.
“Oxbridge’s profits cannot continue to climb at the expense of Palestinian lives, and their reputations must no longer be built on the white-washing of Israeli crimes,” it said.
An Oxford University spokesperson said: “We are aware of the ongoing demonstration by members of our university community.
“We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy.
“Oxford University’s primary focus is the health and safety of the university community, and to ensure any impact on work, research and learning, including student exams, is minimised. As we have stressed in our student and staff communications there is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford.”
The University added that the Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum remained open.
Students throughout the UK have begun assembling in protest against the conflict in Gaza, establishing encampments in cities such as Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol, and Leeds.
As well as the encampment initiated on Monday, pro-Palestinian students have previously disrupted open days at the University of Cambridge.
Demonstrators cautioned prospective undergraduates and their families at Trinity College, informing them that applying to the college would make them “complicit in Israel’s genocide” in Gaza.
More than 33,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, the majority of them civilians.
Israel rejects accusations that it is engaging in genocidal acts in its campaign in Gaza, and has insisted it has the right to defend itself following the armed incursion by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack.
