Students occupy a building at the University of Manchester over ties to Israel

The Samuel Alexander building has been occupied since Friday

2 months ago | UPDATED 3 weeks ago

More than 200 pro-Palestine students have occupied a building on campus at the University of Manchester as part of their ongoing protests over the university’s ties to Israel.

On Friday 4th September, students from 20 different universities gathered to occupy the Samuel Alexander building. The occupiers, representing a coalition of leftist action groups and pro-Palestine societies, are demanding the university end its association with Israeli institutions.

Currently, these include the Tel-Aviv University, with which Manchester has a joint fund to foster academic collaboration, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, from which it welcomes Israeli students looking to study in the UK.

One of the protest groups involved, Manchester Leftist Action, told The Manchester Tab: “Students are protesting universities’ ties to Israel, demanding that these ties are cut and that universities adopt ethical research and financial policies.

“Across the country students have united in this goal and will continue to take action until their institutions divest.”

The student coalition added: “As students here we cannot stay silent while our counterparts in Gaza have no universities to go to. Last year, students were at the forefront of global solidarity with Palestine, and we continue with the same spirit of defiance this year.

“We begin this academic year relentless as ever in our pursuit of justice. We are building upon the foundations of unity created in the encampments, allowing us to target our universities’ complicity with the support of our peers across the country.

“The university’s shameful ties to a settler-colonial regime must end on our watch, and this is the minimum we could do for the Palestinian people that have been enduring Zionist violence for over 76 years.”

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A spokesperson for the University of Manchester said: “An unauthorised occupation in the Samuel Alexander Building began on Friday. Campus Support and Security have been in attendance. The wellbeing of staff and students is our priority, and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully. The building is open and operating as normally as possible under the circumstances, with some teaching moved to new locations.”

Another protest taking place today in the Old Quad

The occupation precedes a protest set to take place today, on Monday 7th October, coinciding with the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks within Israel and Israel’s subsequent siege of Gaza.

At 5pm, protesters will address heads of British universities, who they deem complicit in the Israeli occupation, as they arrive to the Whitworth Art Gallery for the World Academic Summit.

Manchester Leftist Action revealed to The Manchester Tab the reasons behind their targeting of university staff: “Universities talk of academic neutrality but there are no universities in Gaza, no one has started term in Palestine as students have in Britain and institutions here are directly contributing to that.”