The University of Cambridge has threatened pro-Palestinian students with legal action over encampments “disrupting the University’s administrative activities”.

Cambridge for Palestine (C4P), who set up an encampment on Senate House lawn earlier this week, claim to have been served with notices for impending legal action if they continue their occupation.

The group also claims that the University has halted all discussions with a previously established student-led task force on arms divestment. This comes after the task force was set up as part of an agreement for C4P to dismantle encampments set up on King’s Parade. 

C4P originally occupied the lawn outside of King’s College in May, claiming that they would not leave until the University disclosed and divested all its investments in arms industries. The camp was dismantled in July after the University agreed to set up a working group that would review all of its arms investments by the end of Michaelmas term. Part of this working group was intended to include a task force with six students advising policy.

However, the University has since been accused of “watering down” the proposed arms review, after they delayed publishing the review until the end of academic year, admitting that its initial “timescales” for reviewing its weapons ties were “optimistic”.

C4P have also claimed that the University is breaking their agreement with students on the arms review, after they allegedly restructured the taskforce to have two, rather than six, students.

The University has not previously stated their intent to use legal action against protesting students, claiming that they were committed to “freedom of speech within the law and we acknowledge the right to protest” in relation to the original encampments set up in May.

This news comes after the University was forced to relocate graduations due to happen tomorrow (30/11) from Senate House to Great St. Mary’s church earlier today in order to “minimise the risk of disruption, and to ensure the safety” of students participating.

The group also previously set up an encampment on Senate House in May this year, forcing graduations to be moved to Downing College. C4P then dismantled this encampment after the University agreed to provide amnesty to representatives who wished to engage in conversation with the pro-vice-chancellors for a negotiation meeting.

The group have also occupied Greenwich House, which manages the University’s administrative and financial functions, in an escalation the group claims is in response to the University “breaking” its agreements.

C4P have published a new set of demands, which include include requesting the University to “publicly condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people,” “meet with all 12 elected members of the task force and accept a chair that [C4P] select,” and that the University “immediately carry out an aggregate analysis of its investments”.

The University of Cambridge was contacted for comment.