Cambridge students to dismantle pro-Palestine encampment, following university agreement
The protesters will leave King’s parade in the next three weeks following the University’s pledge to review arms investments
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The Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) encampment will be dismantled, after the student group reached an agreement with the University.
In a statement today, C4P announced that they would “move towards a new phase” of activism, which included closing the encampment on King’s Parade.
This comes after the University yesterday promised a review of its investments in arms companies on the condition that C4P dismantle the King’s Parade encampment. This offer also included a commitment to a review of all research partnerships it holds with arms and defence companies.
To implement these changes, the University proposed the creation of a “working group” that would include a “student-led task force, to “oversee policy” around investments and research, by making recommendations to relevant University committees.
C4P stated that these policies were “a first step” but “insufficient,” and claimed that they “remain dissatisfied with the University’s failure to promptly execute a comprehensive disclosure and divestment effort”.
They also asserted that they would “continue to negotiate on other key demands” including “abolishing participation in the Prevent framework and establishing a review into the university’s adoption and application of the IHRA definition of antisemitism”.
The encampment was first set up outside King’s College by C4P in May, calling on the University to disclose its holdings in companies associated with Israel, and to subsequently divest from them. C4P had previously stated that they would not leave the site until these demands were fully met.
C4P will now co-operate with the University’s working group as a part of the student-led task force to “make sure that […] commitments [to review arms investments and partnerships] are enacted”.
This process will include finalising the task force, organising a negotiations handover, and setting a first meeting date for the working group, Varsity understands.
The group will also continue to work to “reinvest and protect” by supporting the University’s Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF) to support students from conflict zones that was established in May, along the “establishment of multiple funding schemes for Palestinian students and scholars”.
The University’s offer yesterday also committed to supporting Palestinian academics and students, including offering prospective Palestinian students positions on the Cambridge International Summer School programme.
C4P also criticised the language of the University’s statement on the encampments, claiming they were “appalled at the University’s refusal to use the word genocide anywhere in the statement”.
The University’s statement, titled “Upholding our values,” acknowledged “humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza, and also emphasised its support for “students’ right to academic freedom, freedom of speech and the right to protest, all within the law”.
The statement also revealed that Cambridge had been reminded by the Office for Students that such protest must not breach the “wellbeing” of its students.
The statement was authored by vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice, pro-vice-chancellor for university community and engagement Kamal Munir, and pro-vice-chancellor for education Bhaskar Vira.
Pro-vice-chancellors Vira and Munir have been at the centre of C4P’s campaign. In May, student protesters handed their demands directly to the University heads, and both have been present in negotiations between Cambridge and student representatives of the group.
C4P have now pledged to work on establishing “a permanent physical space for Palestinian liberation organising in Cambridge,” to ensure their campaigning will continue.
The University of Cambridge has been contacted for comment.
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