Originally published February 17th, 2009

PRO-PALESTINIAN demonstrators have ended their occupation of George Square Lecture theatre, and are claiming victories after the University acceded to several of their demands.

Over thirty Edinburgh students gathered last Wednesday afternoon to protest the University’s commercial links with Israel and its ‘complicit silence’ in response to the ongoing Gaza conflict. The protestors’ actions have sharply divided opinion on campus.

The sit-in meant that several lectures scheduled to take place in the building were relocated to alternative venues.

The actions follow a wave of peaceful sit-ins at other universities across the UK.

A statement from the protestors on Sunday read: “We feel that this is only the beginning of the movement to end the university’s role in the occupation and oppression of Palestine by the Israeli government and military. There remain serious issues to which the university’s response was completely inadequate, including the active role of arms and defence companies in university research and on-campus recruitment.”

They claimed to have secured five scholarships for Palestinian students and an end to having bottled water from Israeli -owned firm Eden Springs on campus. They also agreed to have the University fundraise for humanitarian aid to Gaza, and for the University to host a lecture and debate series surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

University security were at the scene throughout the protest and limited access in and out of the building to matriculated students. Head of security Andy Algeo did not regard the sit-in as an inconvenience, saying “It is not a problem for us and it is good to show support for the Palestinian movement.”

Demonstrators welcomed others to join their campaign and hosted a series of talks, film showings and gigs. They maintained a blog of their endeavours as a way of communicating with supporters outside.
The protestors stressed they did not want to disrupt any lectures, and indeed two lectures went ahead with the protestors sitting quietly in the hall.

One protestor told the Student: “We are appealing directly to the Principle, who received a letter accompanied by a petition specifying our demands. The petition was signed by 407 students, which is way over quorum for any EUSA petition.” 

“We’re just looking to raise awareness and hopefully reach students with sympathies with our cause.”

In the documentation to the Principal, the students called for an immediate boycott against companies involved in the conflict, Eden Springs.

There were also demands to cut all on-campus recruitment links with defence manufactures such as BAE Systems and QinetiQ, as their products are used by the Israeli military. The university proved less susceptible to these requests, though newly elected Rector Iain Macwhirter has said he will push for a review on the matter.

In response to the demands University Secretary Melvyn Cornish spoke to the Student on Friday evening, saying: “I and colleagues have been meeting with different groups of students. Trying to take negotiations forward when the people on the other side of the table change every meeting isn’t the easiest way of doing things. I’ve just come back from a meeting where we have presented them with quite a long statement in response to the six so-called demands that they’ve posed towards the University and I’ve explained to them that that statement does takes things just about as far as the University can go.

“We feel we’ve been as constructive as we can be, and it really is now for them to decide whether they’ve met their objectives. My personal view is that, given the constructive way the University’s engaged in this, they could leave this evening with honour. Whether they choose to do so is up to them.”

Cornish had previously ruled out removing the students forcibly, saying he would prefer to reach an end to the occupation through discussions.

A Facebook group called ‘Go plant some trees and get out of my lecture theatre!’ attracted hundreds of members in the University of Edinburgh network. Its administrator Elliot Gold said the demonstration was ‘blackmailing’ the University and could encourage further actions, as well as alienating Israeli students.

He told the Student: “The University should not be a political forum and if students want to protest this is not the right way to do it. Taking over the lecture theatre is a complete nuisance and not fair for students who don’t have an opinion and just want to get on with their studies...

“A University will inevitably be an arena for political discussion but should not itself have an institutional view. That is what these people are asking... for the university to take a political position as an institution.”