Pro-Palestine protesters evicted from Queen Mary University of London following High Court possession order
After 61 days of the pro-Palestine encampment, Queen Mary University of London evicted protesters following a High Court order for the possession of campus land.
Pro-Palestine protesters who set up an encampment at the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have been evicted after defying a court order to disperse.
On Wednesday 10 July, QMUL secured a High Court order for the possession of campus land that had been occupied for 61 days by encampment members.
After student activists refused to comply with the court order on Wednesday, bailiffs were sent to dismantle the tents and evict the protesters on Friday morning.
The eviction in Mile End follows similar cases across campuses in the UK, where legal action has caused the Gaza protest camps to wind down. On July 9, Nottingham and Birmingham universities secured orders from the High Court allowing them to evict protesters. Of the 36 encampments at the end of May, only around a dozen are still active, according to the Guardian.
The encampment, which protesters call the ‘QM Liberated Zone Encampment’, was set up on May 13, and called on the university to divest from all companies related to Israel, boycott Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and revoke the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
QMUL began legal action against the encampment on June 6 and the first hearing took place the following day at the High Court, but proceedings were adjourned until this week.
The encampment members had been occupying the area outside the Queens’ Building on Mile End Road as well as areas outside St Luke’s and the People’s Palace.
In an application notice to the High Court, the university expressed concerns about the protection of the Novo Cemetery – a Grade II listed Sephardic Jewish cemetery on campus and one of two remaining in England – due to its proximity to rallies led by encampment members on July 1 and 3.
A spokesperson from QMUL Action for Palestine said: ‘We’re sad to have to leave this stage of our campaign behind and we’re very angry at the treatment of students by university management but we’re far from disheartened and we’re not going away any time soon. The end of the encampment just gives us more time to put our energy into other actions calling for Queen Mary to divest.
‘The encampment has taught us so much and we’ve gained so much experience and community that will help us in the upcoming fight. All encampment members agree that the encampment experience was overwhelmingly positive with many saying they’ll miss the kindness and support they found amongst eachother whilst encamping on Queen’s lawn.’
They said the campaign would return to campus in September ‘more experienced, confident and energised than ever before and joined by thousands of new and returning students’.
A spokesperson from QMUL said: ‘The nature and escalation of protests from encampment members and external activists has created unacceptable health and safety risks for our communities.
‘As a result of these risks, we have asked the encampment on multiple occasions to disperse, all of which were ignored. Regrettably, we therefore had no choice but to pursue legal action to disperse the encampment.
‘Throughout this process, representatives from the University have been meeting with encampment members and following the court ruling, we met with them again and repeated our request that they disperse.
Unfortunately, since they refused to comply with the court ruling, we had no choice but to arrange for their eviction as per the court order. The eviction was carried out peacefully.’
For more local news from your area, read Inside Padel, the game rising to the top of Poplar’s sports scene
