Oxbridge students have set up encampments in front of Britain’s most prestigious universities in solidarity with Gaza – as campus protests continue to sweep across the UK. 

At around 8am on Bank Holiday Monday, students pitched tents outside the Pitts Rivers museum in Oxford as they demanded an end to violence in Gaza and the release of hostages. By lunchtime around 70 students have pitched up at the camp.

At the same time, Cambridge students armed with tents, gazebos and sleeping bags set up on the front lawn of King’s College in protest against ‘Israel‘s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza’.

The sit-in protests, which echo protests seen in the US, have sprung up at other British universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle over the last week.

At Oxford’s camp, named the ‘liberated zone’, students pinned up a board of six demands including calls to boycott Israeli genocide, stop banking with Barclays and help rebuild Gaza’s education system.

Cambridge for Palestine said it will ‘not move’ from the encampment until the university agrees to four demands including disclosing financial ties with complicit organisations and protecting students at risk.

OXFORD: Students put up a sign listing their six demands at their ‘Liberated Zone’ camp

OXFORD: They say ‘will not rest until their demands are met’, with study tents, toilet facilities, and food making areas already in place

The protests seek to emulate those seen at American universities in recent weeks, where more than 130 college campuses have been targeted by pro-Palestine supporters.

These have resulted in growing disorder and unrest, with more than 2,000 arrests.

As Gaza protests continue to grow in the UK, the government has expressed ‘serious’ concerns they could escalate to violence, as witnessed in the US.

Today’s encampments have been organised by groups Oxford Action for Palestine and Cambridge for Palestine, as well as several other smaller groups. 

The protests had been organised in coalition with each other.

Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History remained open and apparently untroubled by the 25-strong encampment of tents on its front lawn.

Footage from the protest, posted on X, showed students chanting: ‘We are the people. We will not be silenced. Stop the bombing now, now, now.’

Unlike in scenes across the Atlantic, where there were fierce clashes with ranks of guardsmen, students inside Oxford’s ‘liberated zone’ worked on their dissertations on laptops while others gathered around to listen to the first in a series of lectures on the ‘history of the Occupation’, beginning with the Ottoman period. 

In a printed manifesto, the protestors hit out at the ‘infamous’ museum beside their protest, in an attempt to stoke wider concerns about imperialism. 

‘We have established a Liberated Zone on the lawn of the infamous University of Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum, which ‘acquired’ items from across the globe through imperial expansionism, mirrors the ongoing struggle of the Palestinian people and connect us to colonised peoples everywhere’, it read.

‘We invite you to struggle with us. Join us in our library, in our study space, in our peaceful protest, in our call for Oxford to sever its institutional relationships that facilitate the genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people.’

The rain quickly reduced the well-kempt lawn into a quagmire, while to gain admittance, visitors had to hand over their details, which will be kept ‘in accordance with our data security protocols’.

The paranoid atmosphere was increased by the insistence that all visitors wear a Covid-era mask – whether this was to protect the protestors’ health or anonymity was not made clear.

The obligatory sign-up procedure told visitors: ‘The University of Oxford is complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. With strong ties to companies supporting the Zionist entity (like Rolls Royce and Raytheon) and academic ties to Israel, Oxford continues to uphold israel’s apartheid regime. The Univeristy’s lack of transparency protects its financial interests in the genocide of the Palestinian people. We have had enough.’

More than 100 dons have backed the encampment. In an open letter, 108 lecturers, faculty members and researchers said they stood ‘firmly in support’ of the students who had set up the encampment.

OXFORD: Students have erected anti-Israel signs as they call for a ceasefire in Gaza

A spokesperson at Oxford University told MailOnline there is ‘no place for intolerance’ and the protest must be carried out with ‘respect, courtesy and empathy’.

They added: ‘We respect our students and staff members right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests.

‘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.

‘The Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum remain open.’

An Oxford masters student who gave their name only as Wren said: ‘We’ve taken inspiration from students in the USA and also now in the UK as well.

‘We’re going to be here through all weather and there’s going to be loads of us.

‘We’re going to be here until our demands are met. We’re going to be here probably for a while judging by Oxford’s inaction so far.’ 

In Cambridge a food station, tent to make placards and banners, makeshift toilet were set up in the encampment, which currently holds around 30 tents. 

Cambridge for Palestine, the group behind the encampment, asked students to join them in solidarity with Palestinians who are being subject to what they claimed is a ‘murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing’.

They claim their institution is ‘complicit in genocide’ because of its ‘financial and academic ties’ to a ‘settler colonial state’.

CAMBRIDGE: Students gave speeches as they outlined their demands during sit-in protests

CAMBRIDGE: Protesters paint signs as they stage demonstrations on their university lawns, echoing similar encampments seen in the US

It claimed: ‘Cambridge University has over $46 million in defense industry partnerships, contributing to the manufacture of weapons that Israel has used to kill over 40,000 Palestinians, 40 per cent of whom are children, and to destroy every university in Gaza.’

A Cambridge University spokesperson said: ‘The University is fully committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest.

‘We ask everyone in our community to treat each other with understanding and empathy. Our priority is the safety of all staff and students.

‘We will not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia and any other form of racial or religious hatred, or other unlawful activity.’

The university protests come on a critical day in the bloody Israel-Palestinian conflict. 

Palestinians began leaving parts of eastern Rafah on Monday after Israel urged 100,000 people to move towards an expanded ‘humanitarian zone’.

It comes ahead of an imminent offensive on the southern Gazan city, where more 1.5 million people have sought shelter.

Ceasefire negotiations stalled on Sunday after terror group Hamas said it would turn down any deal that failed to end the war on Palestinian turf.

OXFORD: students have set up a base on the lawn of King’s College because the university ‘supports Israel ‘s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza’ 

OXFORD: The growing number of demonstrations have led to ‘serious’ government concerns that the campus protests could escalate to violence as witnessed in the US

Last week saw students at Russell Group universities including Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle, pitch tents and erect anti-Israel signs as they called for an end to military action in the Gaza strip. 

Students from Manchester University filled nearby Brunswick Park with banners, plaques and Palestinian flags to call for the university to ‘end it’s partnership with systems which support Israel’.

One banner read: ‘UOM blood on your hands’, while another claimed: ‘UOM supports Israeli Genocide.’

In Bristol, hand-painted banners were erected between tents, emblazoned with messages of defiance as students lobbied their university to cut ties with arms companies and back calls for a ceasefire.

In Newcastle, students were entertained by a Palestinian DJ and treated to regular food supplies, as well as being enticed by free drinks vouchers at the student union bar.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said police will ‘have our full support’ to tackle potential disorder if students attempt to replicate the violent demonstrations recently seen at US university campuses. 

Jewish community leaders have urged universities to shut down encampments over fears Jewish students may be ‘harassed and excluded’. 

Jewish students said the protests have made them feel unwelcome on their own campuses, due to the aggressive stance on Israel. 

NEWCASTLE: Students say their protest ‘highlights the institution’s investment strategy and its complicity in the Israeli military’s war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank’

MANCHESTER: A protester gives a ‘peace’ sign at an encampment set up at Brunswick Park

BRISTOL: Fine arts student Sam was taking part at a protest at Bristol University last week

LEEDS: Students manning stalls and camping out at Leeds University last week

NEWCASTLE: Students gathered in front of the university as they protest in solidarity with Gaza on May 1

Edward Isaacs, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said campus bosses have been ‘unwilling’ to be ‘allies’ to his members and are not making them feel ‘included’. 

Last week he called on vice chancellors to ‘muster the moral courage’ to ‘ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred’. 

Mr Isaacs said he was aware that students in UK protests are using anti-Israel phrases such as ‘globalise the Intifada’ and ‘do not engage with Zionists’.

He wrote: ‘Encampments are growing and the rhetoric emanating from these encampments is increasing in hostility…

‘Universities have been unwilling to effectively stand in allyship with their Jewish students and ensure they can be fully included in campus life.

‘Now is a bellwether moment for university administrations as to whether they will muster the moral courage to stand in allyship with Jewish students, and ensure campuses are places where they can study free from hatred… The moral imperative is theirs.’

Mr Isaacs said Jewish students were having to start sitting their end-of-year exams amid ‘increased toxicity’ towards them.

NEWCASTLE:  Hafsa, a 21-year old first year student, joined the encampment at her university

UCL: Pro-Palestine pProtesters outside University College London over the weekend

GOLDSMITHS: A man walks past flags and banners in support of Palestine displayed in the window of his university library

UCL: Students at University College London join pro-Palestinian demonstrations

He said some protesters were seeking to import ‘nefarious’ aspects of the violent US demonstrations.

‘You may wonder how a few tents can create a hostile environment on campus for Jewish students,’ he added.

‘But it is what these encampments are trying to emulate which is most disturbing.

‘One must only look to the violent scenes at Columbia and UCLA, the brazen support for Hamas, and the all-to-often infiltration of these protests by non-student activists.’

Number 10 has warned protests should not be used to ‘intimidate’ others and said police would be ‘fully supported’ to intervene if any turn violent.

UCLA: Police clash with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) early on May 2, 2024

NEW YORK: Police riot gear stormed through the window of a Columbia University building occupied by dozens of pro-Palestine protestors to begin clearing them out

MADISON: Police officers with riot shields go in to break up the encampment at UW-Madison

CHICAGO: Campus police stand between demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of the University of Chicago and counter demonstrators after a brief skirmish between the groups on May 03, 2024

A spokesman for No 10 said: ‘We have always been clear that Jewish students must feel safe on campuses and whilst our universities rightfully pride themselves on their openness and tolerance and diversity it is obviously absolutely clear that any antisemitism shouldn’t be tolerated.

‘We’ve always been clear that people have a right to peaceful and lawful protest but clearly people shouldn’t abuse that right to intimidate others, cause unnecessary disruption.

‘Obviously the police already have extensive public order powers to tackle disorder at protests and will continue to have our full support in doing so if needed.’

A spokesperson for Universities UK (UUK) said: ‘The priority of UUK and our member universities is to ensure that our campuses remain safe for all our students and staff. We will do everything we can to prevent hate crime, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and intolerance, and support our universities to respond appropriately if incidents involving these take place.

‘In line with the sector’s clear commitment to freedom of speech, it is important that universities enable and support students and staff to debate and discuss this crisis, and the most challenging issues it raises, within the law, and with respect and tolerance.’