Man charged over ‘attack’ on Edinburgh University student at pro-Palestine protest

A man has been jailed and charged in connection to an alleged assault during a protest outside the University of Edinburgh.

The 37-year-old allegedly “slashed” the cheek of an Edinburgh student using a “box cutter” after he acted aggressively while being “clearly intoxicated”.

24-year-old Ben Law was left with a cut to his cheek after attending the pro-Palestine rally on March 28th.

The man has been accused by the protest organisers, Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society (EUJPS), of committing a “hate crime”.

Prior to the incident, he was allegedly heard calling Ben a “Jew”, as well as chanting various phrases like “fuck Palestine” and repeatedly calling the speakers terrorists.

Ben has since released a statement in response to the attack, where he described how the incident unfolded and criticised “bad systems”. He said: “I am not writing this statement because I want to point fingers at any single individual. I do not believe in bad apples; it is bad systems instead.

“I think the way that this situation unfolded brings this to the surface. I saw the man shouting hatefully as he approached the crowd – security must have seen him too, given that multiple students repeatedly warned security about the escalating threat from the second he arrived.”

Ben further explained that he believed that intervention should have been made: “From that moment, at the very least, he should have been under constant watch. The fact he was not is indefensible. We are not demanding that every agitated individual be forcibly restrained—but why did security fail to even instruct him to leave or calm down, particularly when he was blatantly ignoring us?”

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Describing the effects on himself and his family after the incident, Ben questioned why security were not actioned: “Why were students and staff forced to take matters into their own hands to remove an obviously violent individual? Had security fulfilled its basic duty to protect us, I would not be injured, and my family would not be traumatised. There were countless chances to stop this before it spiralled out of control.”

Ben has accused university security of failing to act, even when a threat to student wellbeing was obvious, saying: “If the excuse for this inaction is that they were merely following protocol, then the protocol itself is woefully inadequate.

“Worse still, in conversations after the attack, some security staff responded with near- dismissive indifference, as if their inability to protect us was somehow obvious or acceptable because ‘it is protocol’.”

He further added: “Let me be clear: If campus security cannot – or will not – intervene when someone who is armed attacks students or staff, then they serve no function. What are they protecting? And crucially, what will stop this from happening again—next time with even graver consequences?”

Police Scotland confirmed: “A 37-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with an assault of a 24-year-old man at George Square, Edinburgh on Friday, 28 March, 2025.

“He was released on undertaking and is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.”

Professor Colm Harmon, vice principal students at Edinburgh University, said: “I want to underline how seriously we are taking the appalling episode that led to one of our students being assaulted last Friday.

“We understand how upsetting this is, and I urge anyone affected to access the range of support we have available to you. We are assisting Police Scotland in its enquiries, and we are also looking to ensure that we learn and improve from experiences.

“Edinburgh is a safe city and university to study, work and live in, which makes dreadful incidents such as this all the more shocking. Our hardworking teams are highly experienced in managing security across our city-wide campus, ensuring members of our University can carry out their day confident in their safety.

“We are limited in what we can say pending further police investigation, however we will continue to listen and engage with our community. At this time, we ask that everyone respects the processes in place to safeguard students and staff, and to treat everyone with understanding.”

Ben, who attended the protest as a pro-Palestinian activist, but is not affiliated with EUJPS, has called on the university to act, demanding it release a public statement “taking responsibility for the attack on me, and how [the attack] clearly could have been prevented through security intervention”.

He is also calling for the university to “publish its protocol that supposedly is in place to protect its staff and students at campus protests” and take responsibility if this protocol was not adhered to.

Ben believes that if there is no protocol in place, then one should be created, but “if one does, its inefficiencies should be immediately addressed.”

The University of Edinburgh student said that this is not a task that can be done solely by security of administrative staff and that it is therefore “of utmost importance that this is done in collaboration with grassroots student groups, EUSA, and those from marginalised groups most affected by hate crimes on campus.”

The University of Edinburgh did not comment on these demands when approached for comment.

Police Scotland were approached for comment.

Image via EUJPS.