Students occupy London university library in pro-Palestinian protest

Demonstrators hang ‘from the river to the sea’ banners in windows at Goldsmiths library after barricading themselves inside

Pro-Palestinian protesters have forced their way into a university building in London, with Jewish students warning that the move was trying to “replicate scenes of hatred from US campuses”.
The library at Goldsmiths, University of London has been occupied by students who have barricaded themselves inside and placed banners reading “From the river to the sea” and “Shut it down for Palestine” in the windows.
Encampments in protest against Israel’s war with Gaza have begun springing up at British universities, with the Union of Jewish Students warning of a “hostile and toxic atmosphere”.
Anti-Israel banners and Palestinian flags have been raised at protests at universities including Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Warwick, Newcastle and Sheffield.
It has led to Government concerns that the campus protests could escalate to the sort of scenes witnessed in the US, where pro-Palestinian protests at Ivy League universities turned violent.
Later this month, Rishi Sunak will ask university vice-chancellors to explain what they are doing to combat anti-Semitism and intimidatory behaviour.
Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has already told them that they may need an increased police presence on or around campuses after some were “slow to react” to the problem.
She has written to vice-chancellors twice to outline their duties to prevent anti-Semitism on campuses and remind them that not all free speech is legal.
Overnight, the Goldsmiths for Palestine group pushed past security guards to occupy the library, where it has demanded a meeting with managers to call for more scholarships for Palestinian students.
On Thursday, the Union of Jewish Students said in a statement that its members were “angry, tired and hurt by the continuous torrent of anti-Semitic hatred on campus” since the Oct 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, which triggered the war.
The statement said: “As Jewish students begin their exams, their peers seek to replicate scenes of hatred from US campuses, with protesters already having called to ‘globalise the intifada’, to support the Houthis in Yemen, and to not ‘engage with Zionists’. 
“While students have a right to protest, these encampments create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students. Let us be clear – we will not stand for this hatred. It is time that universities take their duty of care to Jewish students seriously.”
Speaking in Parliament, Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, said: “I think, and I hope, all UK universities will be in no doubt about their responsibilities to all that attend their campuses and their facilities but in particular to those communities that are feeling particularly under attack.
“That is what we expect of them, and we hope and expect that they will meet any such notion of similar protests with an extremely strict response.”
A Department for Education source said there was “serious concern” that the protests could escalate after riot police were called in to disperse sit-ins at Columbia University in New York and the University of California in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The department is liaising with universities and police forces to ensure that there are adequate levels of security on campuses, with one source saying most universities had done a good job, but others had been slow to react.