Sydney University orders Gaza protest campers out after 8 weeks
Sydney University has ordered a pro-Palestinian encampment to pack up and leave campus eight weeks after the tent protest appeared on its lawns.
NSW
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Sydney University has ordered a pro-Palestinian encampment to pack up and leave campus eight weeks after the tent protest appeared on the university’s lawns.
Vice-chancellor Mark Scott wrote to organisers on Friday instructing them to vacate the site, which has been occupied by dozens of tents since April 23.
It comes after weeks of attempts at negotiation with the encampment representatives to come to a peaceful resolution.
“Since the encampment began, we have worked with the encampment representatives to keep the area clean and hygienic,” said a university representative.
“We have continually removed rubbish and broken items from the encampment site as needed and today we have again begun removing broken items and unattended items.
“As there are also a number of tents which have been damaged and are not being used overnight, we have asked the owners of those tents to retrieve their property.
“Following the last rejection of our proposal we have also now instructed the encampment representatives that we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space.”
In an Instagram video, protest representatives say University management woke them up with “trucks” and began packing up tents, “claiming they were there to remove lost property and unattended items”.
“They haven’t given us any criteria for what constitutes unattended items or lost property,” one said.
“Many of our tents have been indiscriminately packed down by security.
“This also comes after we received an email from Vice Chancellor Mark Scott demanding we vacate the camp so the university can go ahead with their welcome week celebrations uninterrupted,” said representatives in the video.
The action group has been calling for Sydney University to “disclose all of their ties with Israel, divest from those ties, and sign on to the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions statement”.
A post on the Palestinian Action Group Instagram account, Students for Palestine Sydney Uni, called for people to flock to the site to “defend” the encampment.
“The students of Gaza haven’t been able to go home and we aren’t going to back down because of this,” they said.
“We need people to defend the USyd Gaza solidarity encampment right now! Management and security are trying to claim that the camp and its tents are unattended so that they can clear the site out.”
“They have a truck already loaded up with tents, and we need your help!!”
Orange stickers were placed on a number of tents, many of which were unattended, advising protesters to clear out.
University spokespeople said the encampment had taken over a shared space to the exclusion of others.
“We have repeatedly stated since the encampment began that we support the right to peaceful protest, provided it does not cause significant disruption to core university operations,” they said.
“We consider preparations for Semester 2 to be core university operations, and any activity that impedes our ability to prepare for them in the usual fashion constitutes a significant and unacceptable disruption.”
The encampment follows a worldwide protest movement which began in the United States at New York’s Columbia University.
The University of Sydney’s Gaza solidarity camp was one of the last standing across the country, along with an encampment at ANU in Canberra which was forced to relocate after being ordered by the university to move on.
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