Encampments explained: Why pro-Palestinian camps at Victorian universities are being closed

Deakin has become the first university in Australia to order the dismantling of a pro-Palestine encampment — here’s why the camps are so controversial.

Tent cities have cropped up across lawns at five Victorian universities as a global student movement by pro-Palestine supporters ramps up across the world.

While Australia has to date avoid much of the violence which has broken out at pro-Palestine encampments in the US and Europe, the local versions have not been without controversy with former treasurer Josh Frydenberg labelling them “campus camps of hate”.

Deakin University became the first uni in Australia to order the immediate dismantling of an encampment when it ordered the closure of a protest site on its Burwood campus on Monday.

But camp organisers have already signalled they won’t go quietly, publicising a ‘Rally to Defend’ the camp.

It comes after more than a hundred pro-Palestine protesters gathered on Monash University’s College Lawn to protest against a Jewish event commemorating Israeli victims of terror on Monday night.

The protesters, wearing keffiyehs and high-vis vests, called to “disrupt” the university’s Yom HaZikaron event, which honours those killed in terrorist attacks, including fallen soldiers.

Students and Pro-Palestine supporters Ivy, Lily, Amelia and Zeinab, among the tents at RMIT university.

A day earlier, the University of Melbourne’s pro-Palestine encampment was attacked by vandals, with objects thrown at students and fire extinguishers set off.

Dramatic footage showed a group of pro-Palestine supporters running away from two men wearing balaclavas, who are seen throwing objects and verbally abusing students at the Parkville campus on Sunday night.

The video showed fire extinguishers being set off at the encampment, with the vandals shouting “F--- Palestine”.

This is everything you need to know about the “camps for Palestine” and how the state’s universities are responding.

What are ‘solidarity with Gaza’ encampments?

By definition, an encampment is a group of tents or shelters set up in one place. Activists can host an encampment to provide a base for a protest or to cause disruption by blocking a venue with their camp.

The Gaza encampments that have popped up around the nation in recent weeks have been set up by groups including Students for Palestine, and follow similar protests being held at colleges globally.

“In every continent, students have set up encampments in their universities to demand an end to the genocide and occupation in Gaza and that their universities cut ties with weapons manufactures and institutions involved and complicit in it,” Students for Palestine RMIT said in a statement.

Fortunately, the demonstrations at these Victorian universities have remained mostly civil compared to their international counterparts, where police have used rubber bullets and capsicum spray to disperse violent clashes.

Hundreds of students are camping out to “fight back” against universities and governments’ support for Israel, following months of strikes and protests.

“We are fighting for a free Palestine, and for a university system beyond the genocide-abetting degree factories that they are today,” one event description for an encampment reads on social media.

Organisers have called on supporters to donate tents, tarps, food, water, blankets, sleeping bags and lights to support protesters participating in the encampments at Victorian universities.

Pro-Palestine supporters at RMIT university set up their Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the Melbourne campus’ Alumni Courtyard.

When did the global movement start?

University campuses have been the site of encampments since mid-April, with the first camp emerging outside the main library at Columbia University.

Since then, hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters in the United States, France, Lebanon, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Australia have followed suit by setting up similar “solidarity for Gaza” camps at their local universities.

But unlike Victoria, not all international demonstrations have been civil, with police called to de-escalate violent clashes between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel supporters who have also rallied to contest the encampments.

In the United States, more than 2000 people have reportedly been arrested following confrontations with police while in France authorities had to move on 60 students who participated in a sit-in.

Meanwhile in Victoria, police have been called in to monitor several encampments, particularly at Monash University, University of Melbourne and Deakin University.

Activists and students gather for a meeting in the centre of an encampment at University Yard at George Washington University.

What are Australia’s leaders saying?

Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg called for all Australian universities to follow the lead of Deakin University and pull down pro-Palestine encampments.

“At last the penny has dropped with Deakin University committed to clearing the campus camps of hate,” Mr Frydenberg, who recently made a documentary about the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Australia, told the Herald Sun.

“Our universities must be safe spaces for learning and education, not indoctrination.

“All our universities should follow Deakin’s lead, bringing an end to these encampments and taking a strong and principled stand against the anti-Seministim, violence and hate we have seen across Australia in recent months.

“This is a time for our university leader to stand up and be counted.”

Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Picture: Sky News Australia

Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan called for calm at all university campuses on Tuesday.

“That protest must be peaceful. It must be respectful and it also shouldn’t be compromising the safety of students who are going to university to further their education,” she said.

“Universities should never be a place for violence and they should most certainly never be a place for anti-Semitic behaviour. That is not acceptable.”

Ms Allan said she hadn’t been briefed about Deakin’s demand for its Burwood encampment to be shut down, but noted Victoria Police had been working with universities.

Last week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the chant “from the river to the sea” was a “violent statement” that had no place on Australian streets and opposed a two-state solution.

What are students’ demands in Victoria?

Overall, students want Victorian universities to “disclose, divest, rescind and cut ties” with Israel and to stop supplying “arms and parts” to the Israeli army, but these demands can be broken down further at each university.

For example, at Monash University, students are calling for the tertiary institution to stop being “complicit” and to disassociate from its exchange program with Tel Aviv University, which is in Israel.

The view of the South Lawn of Melbourne University as pro-Palestine supporters continue their encampment.

At RMIT, students are calling for the university to sever its partnership with Boeing Defence – a weapons manufacturing company that’s transferred thousands of weapons systems and munitions from the United States to Israel in the past decade.

“It’s very obvious that RMIT has ties and partnerships with companies that are complicit in genocide, so we want to see them disclose the nature of them and cut those ties,” RMIT students for Palestine convener Amelia Christie said.

As for Deakin University students, they’re calling for the institution to cut ties with weapon manufacturer BAE systems and Quickstep Aerospace engineering.

“These are just some of Deakin’s partnerships with weapons companies which are being used by Israel to target Palestinians,” Deakin Students for Palestine said in a social media post.

Meanwhile at the University of Melbourne, students called for the institution to “take a moral and ethical stance against the ongoing genocide in Gaza” and to stop accepting “blood money from war mongers”.

“We will not move until the university ceases to be complicit in Gaza’s devastation,” UniMelb for Palestine said in a statement.

When have we seen a protest of this scale?

Protests and strikes at Melbourne schools and universities date back to 1914 when students and their parents from a Mornington Peninsula town went on strike because the Department of Education failed to replace toilets it had moved.

Over a decade later 300 students at Altona High went on strike over a shortage of clean water supplies, before 70 students walked out of Altona Primary School in 1951 during winter due to no heating and poor classroom conditions.

One of the larger student strikes occurred from 1968 when 70,000 high school and tertiary pupils marched into the city as part of anti-war and conscription rallies during the Vietnam War.

Pro-Palestine reporters are calling on their universities to ‘disclose and divest’ their ties with Israel and weapon manufacturing companies.

Shortly after in 1972, Australia’s first national school strike took place where tens of thousands of students nationally demanded transparency around school rules, an increase in education funding and an end to corporal punishment and gender segregation.

Academics have suggested the location of Australian universities have impacted the intensity of their social action.

For example, when there are protests at city campuses, demonstrations spill into the streets, however at more secluded universities protests usually take place at a main meeting area.

Not all students feel safe

The recent pro-Palestine protests and encampments have caused a level of distress for some students – particularly those who are Jewish – causing them to avoid their university or to change how they look so they’re not targeted.

Australasian Union of Jewish Students President Noah Loven called on the government to do more to tackle anti-Semitism at universities in a statement issued last week.

“It’s simply not safe for many Jewish students on campus at the moment, and it’s unacceptable that many feel they cannot attend their lectures and classes in person without fear of intimidation, harassment and violence,” he said.

“Some of these extreme groups are crossing the line, and that’s why we’re calling on universities and government to do more to ensure campuses are safe again for all.”

Melbourne pro-Palestine supporters have camped at the university for over a week.

Meanwhile, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin described the violent and destructive scenes at universities across the globe as appalling.

“Australian anti-Israel activists are already replicating the tactics of their counterparts in the US by going campus to campus establishing encampments and shifting from misleading calls for ‘ceasefire’ to openly supporting terrorist organisations and calling for a new intifada and the destruction of Israel,” he said.

“The activists want to bring about the same paralysis and division here. It is intrinsic to their deeply anti-western ideology.

“There is no reason why anyone should be camping on public lands, much less on university grounds that are to be accessible for all.”

How have the universities responded?

While the universities have acknowledged students’ rights to a peaceful protest, the institutions have warned they will not tolerate racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or inappropriate behaviour.

A letter Deakin University sent to a leading pro-Palestine encampment organiser on Monday night ordered the student to “attend to the immediate dismantling and removal of the current encampment at Morgan’s Walk”.

The letter says the university gave permission for the camp to be set up until last Friday and the expectation was that it would conclude at this time.

The university notes the closure of Morgan’s Walk due to the “unacceptable” behaviour of protesters was a key issue.

Student organiser Dana Alshaer at a University of Melbourne pro-Palestine encampment.

La Trobe University Vice Chancellor Prof Theo Farrell said the university was working to ensure its community could share its views in a safe and inclusive way.

“Everyone has a right to be safe and to feel welcome on campus, and the safety of our staff, students and community is our priority,” he said.

“In accordance with the law and our policies, we will not accept discriminatory, abusive, threatening or violent behaviour by any person on our campuses, nor damage to property.”

Monash University has provided daily updates as the encampment at its Clayton campus rolls into its eighth day.

“(The) university is aware that a group is exercising its right to protest and has started an encampment on the Lemon Scented Lawns at the Clayton campus,” a spokesman said in a statement.

“The University’s priority is to ensure the wellbeing and safety of our community and to uphold our core principles of scholarly inquiry and academic freedom.”

RMIT shared similar views and said it was proud of its rich and diverse multicultural and multi-faith community and was committed to protecting the right of every member.

Meanwhile, a University of Melbourne spokesman said: “the university welcomes debate and peaceful protest on campus, provided it does not extend to violence, threat or intimidation.”