Pro-Palestinian protesters condemned Trinity College’s “complicity in genocide” yesterday afternoon (17/11), after the College backtracked on divesting from arms.

The “Emergency Rally” yesterday afternoon was organised to express “anger” at Trinity’s “betrayal” of their promises to divest.

“We are here today because the Master of this college has decided it’s okay to invest in arms,” one speaker said. “Trinity, how dare you invest in arms companies which kill children”.

The speaker accused Trinity of refusing to listen to students, academics, and faculties who “do not support [the College’s] genocide”, and accused the College of having “not only blood on their hands, but blood all over them”.

It was reported last term that Trinity College had decided to divest from arms, with senior members of the College allegedly telling the Trinity College Student Union (TCSU) that “Trinity will be and is in the process of divesting”.

On Friday (15/11), Varsity revealed that the Master of Trinity had said in a recent meeting with the TCSU that the College had “no interest in divesting from arms companies”. The Master, Dame Sally Davies, said there was a “consensus” in the College against cutting ties from the weapons industry.

Freedom of information requests seen by Varsity show the College has maintained investments in multiple arms companies. This includes Elbit Systems which produces 85% of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli army.

One student speaker expressed their anger at Trinity’s failure to divest. “We’ve been working so hard to get Trinity to divest,” they said, “but they don’t understand that people are dying, and enough is enough”.

Protesters gathered outside the College chanted “how many kids have you killed today,” and accused Trinity of “committing war crimes in our name”.

This comes just two weeks after pro-Palestinian protesters burned a copy of the Balfour declaration outside Trinity – a document which announced British support for a homeland “for the Jewish people”.

Demonstrators at the Balfour protest, which took place on Sunday 3 November, told Trinity to “taste the fire you inflict upon the Palestinian people” as the declaration burned.

“We condemned the Balfour declaration here two weeks ago,” one speaker said at yesterday’s protest, “and on Friday we find out the Master of this college said arms investment is okay”.

Trinity is the richest of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges, with an endowment of over £2 billion. Its investment in multiple arms companies has been a point of contention – many feature on the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Movement list, which urges individuals to cut ties with companies associated with the war in Gaza.

Trinity College was contacted for comment.