Pro-Palestine protesters sprayed the University’s head offices with red paint earlier today, criticising the University’s investments in arms.

The action targeted the University of Cambridge’s Old Schools Offices, which form the main administration for the University, including much of its financial activity.

Pro-Palestine activist group Palestine Action have claimed responsibility for the protest, stating that “As long as the University continues to profit from violence, we will continue to take action in solidarity with Palestinians who endure daily oppression and destruction”.

The paint splattered was also accompanied with the slogans “always resist” and “free Palestine” on the walls of the Old Schools. The walls on either side of the gate have “divest” written in capital letters, with the sign displaying “The Old Schools University Offices” crossed out.

An emergency maintenance crew was positioned at the site and have already begun washing the paint off. One member of the crew told Varsity the clean-up would take at “at least two days”. Another member dubbed the paint as “criminal damage”.

The Old Schools Offices is Grade I listed, meaning it is of exceptional interest, and deemed of great national and architectural importance.

In the past, it has been used for teaching rooms of the higher faculties, with the Divinity School being the first building to be established. Currently, it houses the central University offices and office of the vice-chancellor, Deborah Prentice.

This comes after the University was granted watered-down encampment restrictions after applying for an injunction to prohibit from entering, occupying or interfering with key University sites, including the Old Schools.

A high court judge granted the University a “very narrow and limited court order” last week (27/02), in order to prevent disruption to graduations on the weekend. But, the University’s proposed injunction of five years was rejected and restrictions beyond Saturday’s graduations were deemed not “necessary and justified”.

Following Saturday’s graduation ceremony more than 80 pro-Palestine protesters gathered for a rally held outside Senate House. One protester, speaking on Cambridge’s application for the injunction, commented: “Cambridge University attempted to undermine the students’ civil liberties. And then, they failed.”

“The University must understand that its profits from war crimes will never outweigh the damage done to its reputation and bottom line,” they added.

Last year (22/06), pro-Palestine protesters from Palestine Action also sprayed red paint over Senate House, the University’s central leadership building, after General admission graduations were scheduled to take place.

In November (02/11), members of the group targeted the University Institute for Manufacturing with red paint because of its ties with companies associated with arms manufacture, claiming that the Institute was a “centre of complicity”.

They also targeted the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government last week, smashing its windows and spraying it with red paint in a protest to end the University’s “complicity” in the war in Gaza.