Pro-Palestine student protesters to pack up camp after “major win”

Well, there's no sign of movement or a pack down happening here and the Parkville campus yet there's still tents lining the ground floor of the Arts W building behind me and even more tense seal on the South Lawn nearby where the encampment has been set up for a month now. But it does look like the protest could be coming to an end today after protesters spent an eighth night inside the Arts W building. They say the university has agreed to disclose all ties to weapons manufacturers, which is, of course one of the key demands the protesters here have been pushing for as part of a broader push from student protesters around the country. Or universities to cut their ties with weapons manufacturers. The actual cutting of ties doesn't seem to be happening just yet. But the protesters here say the disclosure of ties is enough for them to be willing to pack up their camp. And they say that'll happen as soon as the university makes that commitment publicly. We haven't heard that from the university yet. So far, all they've had to say is a one word statement saying they welcome the willingness of the protesters to pack up and leave. We're expecting a statement from the University of Melbourne later today and then we're expecting to pack up to begin. Here as we approach the end of the university teaching semester, we are seeing some of the other protest camps around the country begin to pack up as well. The Trobe and Monash here in Melbourne, protesters there have already packed up. That's amid threats of disciplinary action against the students from the universities. Deacon University here in Melbourne as well also planning to end its protest camp today. Although we are still seeing other protest camps continuing at RMIT, at ANU, in Canberra, in the University of Sydney and at other locations. As the university has really struggled to grapple with not wanting to meet the demands the protesters are calling for, but also not wanting to repeat the scenes. We saw in the US where there was violence in mass arrests as police moved into university campuses to forcibly remove the protesters. If the University of Melbourne does commit to what the protesters say they they have agreed to do, it would be what would have to be one of the first major concessions of a university to the protesters here in Melbourne. Whether or not they make those commitments will have to wait till later this afternoon.