UK Police, Not Universities, Primed With Deciding Anti-Israel Protest Response
Students at British universities have barricaded themselves, calling for an “intifada until victory,” sparking safety fears among Jewish students
By Kristina Jovanovski/The Media Line
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will reportedly meet with officials from British universities this month in response to new encampments and protests against the war in Gaza that have sprung up on campuses this week.
At least seven universities have seen protests, including a walkout and encampments.
In a statement to The Media Line, The University of Warwick’s Warwick Jewish Society said that while it respects pro-Palestinian students’ rights to protest, Jewish students have found the demonstrations troubling.
The organization stated that protesters have recently called for an “intifada until victory.”
“The language and symbols used in these protests far too often cross the line into promoting hatred and violence… Jewish students on campus feel intimidated and unsafe when masked protesters chant references to terrorist attacks,” the group wrote in an email.
Sunak will hold a summit with vice-chancellors of universities later this month over concerns about possible antisemitism on campuses, according to British news outlets.
“Whilst we firmly believe in the power of rigorous free speech and debate, the right to that does not include the right to harass others,” said a government spokesperson, according to The Daily Telegraph.
This week, protesters barricaded themselves at a University of London library.
Stella Swain, who works for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has helped organize protests on some campuses, told The Media Line that students from other universities have contacted her group in the last few days to start demonstrations.
She said that while the encampments were inspired by those in the US, protests had been taking place on British campuses for months beforehand.
“All of the student encampments in the UK have made it very clear that there is no space for racism or hate of any kind,” she said.
Swain said her group was mostly funded by fees paid by organization members who want universities to stop partnering with companies involved in the arms trade with Israel.
Swain stated that she hoped that similar scenes of unrest, which have happened in the US, would not happen in the UK.
“In terms of the way that the British police force functions, [it] is very different to the way the US police force functions,” she said.
The British Commons leader Penny Mordaunt stated in Parliament that protests should face an “extremely strict response” if they have similar “disgusting” scenes as in the US.
Tom Southerden, Amnesty International UK’s program director for law and human rights, told The Media Line that it is up to the police, not the universities, to decide whether to act against protesters.
Southerden said that the protests are protected by the UK’s Human Rights Act, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and assembly.
“It may well be legitimate to take action against a particular individual if they are engaging in racist harassment or intimidation,” he said, adding, “But that isn’t necessarily a basis for a blanket ban on a protest altogether.”
The Union of Jewish Students, which is in the UK and Ireland, stated on Thursday that protesters have called to “globalize the Intifada.”
“While students have a right to protest, these encampments create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students,” the group wrote in a statement.
A University of Warwick student, Fraser Amos, who is participating in the encampment, told British broadcaster LBC that Jewish people are also taking part and that antisemitism would not be accepted.
“We don’t accept that there is any opposition between the freedom of the Palestinians and the freedom of Jewish people,” Amos said.
Colin Davis, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Bristol, where students have protested, told The Media Line that he supported the demonstrations and hoped they would lead to universities calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
“Universities also need to reconsider whether it is appropriate to be receiving funding from arms companies,” he wrote in a message to The Media Line.
“These links seriously compromise the mission of the university, which should be for its teaching, research and civil engagement to be working towards a brighter future, rather than causing harm,” Davis wrote.
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