The campaign group Cambridge Defend Education has claimed responsibility and apologised for the breaking of a lecture theatre window on the Downing Site on 14th February.

The organisation, which campaigns “against fees, debt and privatisation in education; against cuts and austerity in the UK and beyond; and for a free and radical academic space of critique and creativity in Cambridge”, said in an e-mail to Natural Sciences students that its activists had broken the window accidentally whilst carrying out a direct action protest.

It was previously understood that the incident had been the work of “a protest group”, but the identity of the group had not been revealed. It was also thought to have been a rock which caused the damage, but the e-mail reveals that it was in fact a bag of sand.

According to the group, some of its members were attempting to hang a banner between two buildings as part of a protest against the Teaching Excellence Framework, part of the government’s contentious Higher Education and Research Bill.

Protest group claims responsibility for rock thrown through lecture theatre window

The activists’ throw, however, fell short and struck the lecture theatre window, causing what they believed to be a small amount of damage, according to the e-mail. In order to hang the banner, a length of rope had to be suspended between the two buildings, which the activists sought to achieve by hurling the rope, weighted with a polyethene bag of sand which had been wrapped in duct tape, from the roof of one building to another.

They claim that while they immediately contacted the Genetics Department offering to pay for damages, it was only later that they discovered that the lecture theatre had been occupied at the time. They say that they were “dismayed that an entirely unintentional fall-out of what was intended to be a simple and peaceful action caused distress to students and those concerned for their safety, and deeply relieved that no one had been hurt.”

They nonetheless express their apologies “for the trouble caused both to those distressed and those who will need to handle the repairs.” They insist that “the organisation would never intentionally undertake an action that might threaten people’s safety”, and that the demonstration was “intended only to create visual effect and spread awareness of the Boycott NSS campaign”.