Rishi Sunak backs police action if disorder
breaks out on UK campuses
Jewish students warn about a ‘hostile and toxic’
atmosphere created by pro-Palestinian encampments at universities
Sally Weale
Education correspondent
Thu 2 May
2024 19.13 BST
The prime
minister has backed a police crackdown on any outbreak of disorder on
university campuses, as Jewish students warned that pro-Palestinian encampments
are creating a “hostile and toxic atmosphere”.
In recent
days, new encampments have been set up at the universities of Manchester,
Sheffield, Bristol and Newcastle, among others, after violent scenes on US
campuses resulted in mass arrests of students and staff.
The Union
of Jewish Students (UJS) issued a statement on Thursday in which they said
Jewish students are angry, tired and hurt by “the continuous torrent of
antisemitic hatred on campus” since the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The UJS,
which claims to represent 9,000 Jewish students in the UK and Ireland, said:
“While students have a right to protest, these encampments create a hostile and
toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students.”
It urged
universities to fulfil their responsibilities. “Let us be clear. We will not
stand for this hatred. It’s time that universities took their duty of care to
Jewish students seriously,” it said.
Rishi
Sunak’s official spokesperson said on Thursday: “We have always been clear that
Jewish students must feel safe on campuses. Whilst our universities rightfully
pride themselves on their openness and tolerance and diversity, it is obviously
absolutely clear that any antisemitism shouldn’t be tolerated.
“While we
firmly believe in the power of rigorous free speech and debate, the right to
that does not include the right to harass others or incite others to violence
or terrorism.”
The
spokesperson added: “Obviously the police already have extensive public order
powers to tackle disorder at protests and will continue to have our full
support in doing so if needed.”
Students
participating in the protests have insisted that the encampments, the latest of
which began at University College London, were peaceful and opposed to all
forms of hate speech including antisemitism.
Stella
Swain, youth and student campaigns officer at the Palestinian Solidarity
campaign, said: “There is nothing to suggest these student encampments are
anything but completely peaceful. Peaceful protest is completely legal in this
country.”
A research
student participating in the encampment at Sheffield University, who wished to
remain anonymous, added: “Some of the most committed campaigners for
Palestinian liberation on our campus are Jewish students. We are a
fundamentally anti-racist movement. The fight against antisemitism is part and
parcel of the fight against racism.”
More than
100 students at Manchester University spent Wednesday night in the “camp of
resistance for Palestine” in Brunswick Park. A statement issued by Manchester
students said: “Our camp is welcoming to people from all faiths, united by the
unwavering solidarity with the Palestinians and their struggle for liberation
and justice.”
Unlike the
violent scenes on US campuses, protests by UK students since the crisis in Gaza
began have been generally peaceful and on a much smaller scale. There has,
however, been an increase in reported incidents of antisemitism at UK
universities, according to the Community Security Trust, a charity that
protects British Jews from antisemitism and related threats.
The leader
of the Commons, Penny Mordaunt, earlier condemned the “disgusting” scenes in
the US, which resulted in the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters, and said UK
protesters should be met with an “extremely strict response” if they attempt to
replicate the violent demonstrations seen on US university campuses.
Mordaunt
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, 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.”
Tom
Southerden, Amnesty International UK’s law and human rights director, said it
was vital that UK universities and the police respect and protect peaceful
student protests on Gaza. “The authorities in the UK must avoid the dangerous
clampdown we’ve witnessed at university campuses across the US.”
Universities
UK (UUK), which represents 142 institutions, said: “The priority of UUK and our
member universities is to ensure that our campuses remain safe for all our
students and staff. We will do everything we can to prevent hate crime,
antisemitism, Islamophobia, and intolerance, and support our universities to
respond appropriately if incidents involving these take place.”
This article was amended on 2 May 2024 to
clarify comments made by Penny Mordaunt.
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