By Cara Hene, Digital News Editor and Arthur Clinton, News Reporter
A pro-Palestine rally took place in front of the Royal Fort Gardens by Senate House, today 24 September at 12.30pm, in protest against the University’s research partnerships and investments in defence companies currently suppling Israel's military action in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine protestors opposite Senate House could be seen holding banners reading, ‘BRISTOL UNI COMPLICIT IN GENOCIDE, ARMS LINKS = £75M’ and ‘ALL OF GAZAS UNIVERSITIES HAVE BEEN BOMBED’.
Made up of around 20 people, student groups Bristol Occupy 4 Palestine and Socialist Worker Society protested the University’s links with companies such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce.
In apparent preparation for the protest, the University’s security services blocked off an entrance to Senate House and set up a checkpoint, inspecting U-Cards on entry to ensure only University of Bristol students could enter.
Organisers, many of them students, said the protest was in opposition to ‘the complicity of UoB in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.’
One such student, ‘Mask Off’, told Epigram that her best friend is currently stuck in Gaza. Of the 200 members of her friend’s extended family, she said that over 50 children were now orphaned due to the war.
Clearly impassioned, she said, ‘Evelyn Welch, grow a backbone. It’s embarrassing and you’re literally complicit in genocide. No amount of money will help you to sleep at night.’
‘This university has made 90 million off of its so-called ‘defence’ partnerships, which are arms companies.’ She claimed, ‘Not only do they build and sell the weaponry and bombs that are dropped on the innocent civilians of Gaza, they also test weapons that are not yet sold on civilians in Gaza. This is well documented.’
The gathering crowd of around 70 students were led in chants of ‘UoB you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide’ and ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
Mabel, a member of the Socialist Worker Society, said to the crowd, ‘We must demand that our university cuts all ties and investments in Israeli arms companies… We must resist the militarisation of our tuition fees.’
Bristol has been no stranger to student-led pro-Palestine activism over the past few years, and neither has Senate House. In March of this year, Epigram reported on the students occupying Senate to protest the University’s check-in app and wider divestment.
And in 2024, the pro-Palestine encampment on the Royal Fort Gardens garnered national media attention; they too called for the University severe its ties with defence companies, as our coverage details.
Dr Eldin Fahmy, Senior Lecturer at the School for Policy Studies has been going to pro-Palestinian protests since 1982.
He told the crowd that ‘This university believes it is ethical to partner with arms companies that are supplying Israel with munitions, with weapons systems, with bombs, with guidance and targeting systems, with drone technology.’
‘I would urge students in engineering in particular to put pressure on the university,’ he said to Epigram.
A University of Bristol spokesperson said: ‘We support the right to freedom of expression and to engage in lawful, peaceful protest and understand the deeply held concerns that many in our community feel about the situation in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.
‘The University's association with a wide variety of organisations helps drive innovative research and improves our students' future careers. All our partnerships undergo stringent diligence checks and ethical reviews.’
Josh McClounnan
Milan Perera
The main protest dispersed by 2.30pm, while some students continued the protest’s bake sale fundraiser in Senate House.
Featured image: Epigram / Daisy Guilor
