Pro-Palestine protesters at Edinburgh Uni have occupied the Gordon Aikman lecture theatre

Pro-Palestine protesters occupied the University of Edinburgh’s Gordon Aikman lecture theatre late on Monday night.

The sit-in was organised by the Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (EUJPS) and announced on their Instagram just before midnight on Monday the 26th of February, being part of a series of pro-Palestine protests held since October.

Banners and flags were hung out of the windows of the lecture theatre with a list of demands for the University of Edinburgh put up by the entrance, asking it to “reduce police presence at protests” and for the “complete and immediate divestment from companies” it says are “complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide.”

Additionally, it calls for the university to “condemn the ongoing genocide in Gaza” and for the “removal of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.”

In its Instagram post EUJPS said: “We, the students of Edinburgh University, refuse to see millions generated from our own tuition fees invested in Israeli arms and apartheid.”

A petition was advertised at this library sit-in as well as on social media following the protest calling for the divestment of the university’s funds from certain companies, with EUJPS saying: “As the university has enjoyed the esteem of having divested from Russian companies [following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine]  in the past, it is more than time for the same divestment from Israel.”

via @eu_jps on Instagram

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The post was published jointly with Valerie Edinburgh (previously Edinburgh University Vegan Society), Edinburgh Youth in Resistance, the Staff Student Solidarity Network and EU Kehillah, a community of Jewish students at University of Edinburgh that stand “unequivocally in support of Palestinian liberation and are committed to highlighting the diversity of Jewish voices on campus.”

Previous protests on campus have voiced these same concerns, with a sit-in at the university’s main library seeing speakers criticising the University’s alleged silence on condemning Israel’s military actions.

EUJPS’s Instagram post claims that “senior management have ignored our letters, our divestment petition which has gained over 2,000 signatures and our repeated protests”, and as a response to this alleged inaction have decided to “reclaim the Gordon Aikman lecture theatre.”

A university spokesperson has responded to this occupation by saying that they “support the right to take part in lawful, peaceful and respectful protest, however, we do not support protesters preventing access to a building.”

A note on the door has notified Business students that their lectures have been moved to the Old Medical School, with the University saying that they are “working to relocate any affected teaching and other activities to avoid disruption for the rest of our community.”

The protest calling for an end of the University’s ‘complicity’ is made up of various societies (EUJPS, Kehillah, Valerie, Youth in Resistance and SSSN)

A university spokesperson told The Tab Edinburgh: “The continuing violence and loss of life in Palestine is deeply distressing and we understand the strength of feeling on this issue. We support the right to take part in lawful, peaceful and respectful protest, however, we do not support protesters preventing access to a building. We are working to relocate any affected teaching and other activities to avoid disruption for the rest of our community.” 

EUJPS have been approached for comment.

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