Watch: Pro-Palestine protesters occupy Oxford University building and demand ‘rebuilding of Gaza’
police and protesters
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters have been removed by police after occupying a building at Oxford University.
At around 8am, the group of activists entered an administrative office on Wellington Square and refused to leave.
Thames Valley Police went to the scene and at least two protesters from Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) have reportedly been removed.
The Telegraph understands that a number of protesters have been arrested. The police have been contacted for comment.
At least five police cars were parked on Wellington Square, and at least one police vehicle entered the building through the back gate on Little Clarendon Street.
A group of protesters were standing at the entrance of the building, and blocking access to it.
The building is in lockdown, with a piece of paper at the door of the offices stating “We are in lockdown – no access”.
Police have moved in to break up the protests
A banner has been hung from the first floor of the Wellington Square building, with a list of seven demands.
They include: “Disclose all finances”, “Divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid, and occupation”, and “Support Palestinian-led rebuilding of education in Gaza”.
A final demand reads “Amnesty for all involved”.
An OAVP statement on Twitter reads: “Emergency: mass arrests are happening now at our sit-in at Wellington Square! Mobilise now for support!”
In an earlier post, the group stated: “We will not leave the Administration offices in Wellington Square until the University agrees to negotiate on the preconditions we have already requested”.
There is a large encampment currently set up outside the Pitt Rivers Museum in the city where students have been staging a protest for the past two and a half weeks.
Tents have been erected outside the building and declared a “liberated zone” by protesters in solidarity with Palestine.
Pro-Palestinian protests and camps are spreading across British universities as students demand that the university cuts all financial ties with Israel in an attempt to replicate the occupations that have swept through US campuses in recent weeks.
Demonstrators at the University of Oxford have added to a growing number of tent camps protesting against the war in Gaza, which have also been seen at universities including Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Swansea, Bristol and University College London.
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