THE occupation of a university building by the Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society (GUJPS) was abruptly shut down yesterday when police were allegedly called by university management.
The students were occupying the Charles Wilson building on Kelvin Way in an attempt to urge the university to divest from all arms companies and “stop the repression on campus”.
After reportedly being called by the university, police are said to have blocked the entrance of the building to prevent food, water, and supplies from getting in, with students claiming that officers then allegedly began eating and drinking it themselves.
The students have confirmed that the hunger strike, carried out by three people, is continuing, with the core demand of an emergency court meeting to hold a vote for arms divestment.
The GUJPS shared images yesterday of students inside the Charles Wilson building in Glasgow, which is a converted church building used for lectures and seminars.
This occurred simultaneously with pro-Palestine protests in Edinburgh, where signs saying “End the siege of Gaza, stop the war coalition” were held at Waverley station and outside the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood.
The occupation originally began two weeks ago, with students also calling for the building to be renamed Dar Ahmad Manasra meaning “Home of Ahmad Manasra”, after a 23-year-old Palestinian man who has been held by Israeli forces since he was 13.
During this occupation, deputy vice chancellor Dr David Duncan allegedly emailed the students telling them they would, “take action against any individual identified as having been involved in organising it” due to the disruption to scheduled teaching.
Yesterday it was a matter of hours before the police were called to attend, reportedly threatening to lock the students inside.
Eventually it was decided that the students would leave following an email from David Duncan, promising them a meeting – though no date has been set for this yet.
In an update posted to social media yesterday, GUJPS stated: “Today, we occupied the Charles Wilson building, establishing Dar Ahmad Manasra.”
“Management escalated quickly, without reason. They called police almost immediately, to whom they handed our fate over.
“Their immediate unwillingness to negotiate with us in good faith (let alone, negotiate with us at all) displays their utter disrespect for the urgency of our movement and their desperate attempts to silence us.
“At around 1pm, police told us that we had until 6pm before they lock the building, then very abruptly said we have five minutes to leave before they lock us in.
“In a further disgusting show of callousness, police started to eat the food and drink the water that was donated to the student activists blocked inside – at which point we had run out of drinkable water.”
Speaking today GUJPS said that the hunger strike is continuing as an “escalation on our end as a response to management yesterday”, with more students joining the original three.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said today: “Police were called around 11:25am on Wednesday, 19 March, to a report of demonstration on Kelvin Way in Glasgow.
“The group later dispersed and there were no arrests.”
The University of Glasgow have been contacted for comment.