A group of pro-Palestine students and staff delivered an open letter to Cambridge’s Old Schools building this afternoon (11/03), calling on the University to end its bid for a protest injunction.

The letter, signed by over 1,000 students, staff and alumni, was delivered by three staff and student representatives, accompanied by several Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) activists waving Palestinian flags.

This comes ahead of a second High Court hearing next week (19/03), when the University will reapply for an injunction banning the occupation of key buildings, including Greenwich House, Senate House and the Old Schools.

In late February (27/02), a high court judge granted the University a “very narrow and limited court order” to prevent disruption to graduations that weekend.

However, the University’s proposed injunction of five years was rejected and restrictions beyond Saturday’s graduations were deemed not “necessary and justified”. The University is pursuing a more permanent version of the injunction.

The open letter describes the injunction as “authoritarian,” calling on the University “to withdraw” it and reaffirm its “commitment to protect the freedom of speech and assembly of its members”.

It states: “We note that the application to the court is made in the name of the ‘Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge’ and wish to state publicly and clearly that you are not acting in our name in preparing such an assault on freedom of expression.”

“Rather, this injunction runs contrary to the collective rights and interests of the University community as a whole to debate, assemble and protest in order to hold those in authority to account. We wish to remind you that the demands raised by students in solidarity with the Palestinian people have wide support from members of the University community,” it continues.

Maroof Rafique, the Students’ Union (SU) BME officer, told Varsity: “We are here to represent the students and be on their side because the right to protest is something that we [are] always in demand of. We are joining hands with the UCU [University College Union] to deliver this letter to the University and are asking the Vice Chancellor to not go ahead with the injunction.”

“I believe we already have seen in the first instance the outcome, the court has also upheld the students’ right to protest, giving an injunction which did not have much substance to it,” Rafique added.

One professor in the Department for Social Sciences told Varsity: “We just want the University to do the right thing. Protest should be permissible within bounds, within a proper legal frame, and we can’t understand why the University is trying to restrict the rights of students to express their views.”

“We’re doing what we can, we can’t do much at this stage, but we’re doing what we can to alert the Vice Chancellor’s Office and the central bodies in the University to the feelings of students and staff who oppose this injunction.”

Last week, Pro-Palestine protesters sprayed the Old Schools building with red paint, criticising the University’s investments in arms.

Days later, student activists at Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) students claimed that Cambridge deploys a “punitive security culture” in response to protest, amid rising numbers of investigations by the University’s counter-terrorism and freedom of speech committee.

The University of Cambridge has been contacted for comment.