Adelaide University pro-Palestine camp hit with makeshift firecrackers

Two handmade firecrackers were thrown from the roof of a campus building onto sleeping protesters below, students allege.

Student activists at the Adelaide University Gaza solidarity encampment were reportedly targeted late on Monday night when fireworks were fired on the campus site.

At 9.40pm and 10. 20pm on Monday two makeshift firecrackers were reportedly thrown from a roof above into the campsite established on Adelaide University’s Maths Lawns to protest the school’s funding by arms manufacturers.

“The coward that is doing this attacked a tent where people are sleeping,” student organiser Melak Khaleel said.

Adelaide University Gaza solidarity encampment organisers Melak Khaleel and Habibah Jaghoori say the attack was the work of ‘coward’.

“This is a scare tactic, it’s happened across the world.

“We have the right to be here, we have permission to be here.”

There were no injuries reported, and the attack was attributed to pro-Israel activists. The fireworks allegedly damaged tents within the campsite.

“On the sixth night of the Gaza solidarity encampment at Adelaide University we faced a cowardly attack on our protest camp,” a statement from Students for Palestine Adelaide reads.

“This is a cowardly tactic of intimidation, but we will not be intimidated. We are keeping our protest camp, and want more people to join us to show that we won’t back down in our fight for an end to the genocide in Palestine.”

The student group called for a snap protest on Tuesday afternoon “to defend the encampment”. It comes as Israel increased its strikes on Rafah in the south of Gaza despite the proposal of ceasefire terms by Hamas leadership.

Student protests across Australia’s Group of Eight universities have called for a divestment by Australia’s 32 public universities from arms manufacturers supplying military technology to the Israeli military.

“The Gaza solidarity encampment has been attacked twice tonight by coward Zionists and pathetic attempts to intimidate us,” a Students for Palestine Adelaide caption reads. “Disclose and Divest.

“Long live the student intifada.”

Australia’s university encampment protests began on April 23 when student associations occupied The University of Sydney lawns, followed by Melbourne University on April 25.

Student occupation protests have spread globally since beginning in the US to protest local military industry investment. Headlines travelled internationally when police crackdowns led to violence and arrests at New York’s Columbia University.

The protests have provoked harsh responses nationally, with the Australian Jewish Association equating the protests to “Hitler Youth rallies” in a Twitter post.

Adelaide University has garnered elevated criticism from students due to the volume of local military manufacturing embedded in the AUKUS deals.

Originally published as Adelaide University pro-Palestine camp hit with makeshift firecrackers