Zero Carbon occupiers taken to court

Cambridge Zero Carbon Society protesters are said to be facing the threat of “bailiffs and police” removing them from Greenwich House, the university building that the students have been occupying since last Friday evening. The group claim they have occupied the administrative and financial hub of the University in order to exert “the kind of pressure management will listen to”.

Despite Zero Carbon inviting fellow students to visit the occupation, described as a “perfect space for revision”, the 500+ staff that usually work at the building have been unable to enter, with doors barred with bike locks.

Zero Carbon posted a photo of a letter they received from the university earlier this week

The move from the administration is a drastic one, with no forced evictions of student protests since the student occupation of Old Schools in 2010 over tuition fees. However it seems that as the occupation draws to the end of its 6th day, the university administration has decided that they must take this action in the face of the occupation of a primary university administration building.

Zero Carbon accuses university management of “using this moment as an opportunity to create new precedent for legal and disciplinary action”. The group claims that the university has refused to even engage with the students' demands – “before a single meeting or conversation, they have moved directly for accelerated court proceedings to evict students forcibly”.

The university has been contacted for comment.

In the face of the threat of eviction, Zero Carbon has announced an “Emergency Rally”, to be held tonight (Thursday), in protest against the forced eviction and “against Cops on Campus”. This will be their second rally of the week, with one on Wednesday attended by over 250 people.

With the university postponing their final decision on divestment to next month, it seems likely that even if Zero Carbon are evicted this will not be the last we see of them.