Pro-Palestine protesters camp at Adelaide Uni to demand end to defence industry ties

It’s a camp-out protest where pro-Palestine student activists shower daily and feast on hot donated food. Now a fireworks blitz has thrown the spotlight on the Adelaide Uni mini tent city.

It’s a camp-out protest whose protagonists shower daily, feast on donated hot food and charge their devices inside nearby university buildings.

But a fireworks blitz this week has not only disrupted the mini tent city occupied by a group of Adelaide University student activists, but landed it in the public spotlight.

The pro-Palestinian supporters have spent the past seven nights in tents on the Maths Lawn in protest at the university’s connections to defence industry firms.

On Monday night – the protesters’ sixth on campus – two fireworks were set off in the camp – one among the tents and another thrown from a nearby building’s roof.

El Hall at the Adelaide Uni Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the Maths Lawns. Picture Mark Brake

Inside the tents at Adelaide University at the Gaza encampment. Picture: Tara Miko

Until then, not many outside the usual university crowd who walk past it daily – or outside the group of pro-Palestinian supporters – would have been aware of the Adelaide version of student protests across Australia’s Group of Eight universities.

About 27 tents have been erected on the Maths Lawn, down from the hub where the 30 or so campers shower during the day. Some, such as arts student Bree Symonds, have slept each night at the site.

“Well, it’s not camping, it’s a protest,” she said.

“So yes, we’re staying the night but we’re doing it because we are opposing what’s happening in Palestine and opposing Adelaide Uni’s links to weapons companies.

Signs at the Adelaide Uni Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Picture: Mark Brake

A sign at the Maths Lawns on Tuesday. Picture: Mark Brake

Hot food donations are delivered daily around 5pm, including traditional Palestinian meals such as mujadarra, a lentils-and-rice dish, and maqloubeh, which includes lamb, rice and vegetables. The breakfast table buckles under the weight of various cereals and milk, which encampment organiser El Hall, 20, said were all donated.

Ms Hall, a bachelor of laws and advanced arts student, is among the cohort to spend some nights, or parts of nights, at the site. She gave The Advertiser a tour of the lawn, explaining the majority of goods were donated by supporters, including the breakfast bar and the supplies tent, which has first aid kits and chargers.

The list of demands the group wants action on from Adelaide University. Picture Mark Brake

There are no TVs onsite, but there is an art station, including a space for young children.

There is one sign with the controversial “from the river to the sea” slogan that many consider a call for genocide against Jews in Israel and Palestine, which Ms Hall says is misunderstood.

“The point of that statement is that the land of historic Palestine is one that is from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean Sea,” she said.

The kids art is hung on a whiteboard where the protesters write their to-do lists. Picture Mark Brake

Signs at the Adelaide Uni Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the Maths Lawns. Picture Mark Brake

“What it means is a secular democratic state of Palestine where Jews, Muslims, Christians – everybody – can live in peace together.”

Changing Palestine to Israel in the rest of the phrase, she said, was “really just semantics”. “The point of the phrase is Palestine,” she said.

But the conflict in the Middle East has shown that such a simple “peaceful resolution” doesn’t work.

Student activists, including Bree Symonds, at the Adelaide University Gaza solidarity encampment were reportedly targeted late on Monday night, when fireworks were set off inside the encampment. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

Students read the uni paper. Picture: Mark Brake

A sign on the lawn targets Adelaide University vice chancellor Peter Hoj. Picture: Mark Brake