Labor senator Fatima Payman joins Melbourne uni protest
Pro-Palestine supporters, who were joined by a Labor senator on Wednesday, have ended their occupation of a University of Melbourne arts building.
Student activists have ended their sit-in at the University of Melbourne after a full week of occupying the Arts West building.
UniMelb 4 Palestine and representatives of the protesters at the building said they had reached a deal with the university.
The pro-Palestine supporters say the academic institution has agreed to disclose all research partnerships with weapons manufacturers.
“This is a first step, divestment from those that profiteer from genocide remains our number one priority and demand and we will not rest until full divestment is achieved,” Dana from UniMelb 4 Palestine said on Wednesday night.
“We stand by our claim that he university remains complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and continues to fail in its obligations to humanity.
“The past month has proven that winning it is the power of students and staff is something that university cannot hide from.”
Dana said the group wants to see disclosure within a month, and that an independent body “of our choice” should oversee the disclosure process.
“We urge Melbourne University’s Chancellor Jane Hansen to intervene and ensure that the university does not penalise any participant in the Mahmoud’s Hall and in the encampment,” she added.
The University of Melbourne confirmed the sit-in will disband.
“We welcome the willingness of the occupiers to leave the Arts West building and remove the encampment from our Parkville campus,” the university said in a statement.
Earlier, under fire Labor senator Fatima Payman turned up to support the students.
Senator Payman made waves last week when she broke rank and accused Israel of “genocide” in Gaza and called on the government to sanction Israel.
The West Australian senator ended a speech last week with the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which was the catalyst for the phrase being condemned by both sides of politics.
It is unknown how much planning went into Senator Payman’s uni visit. Although she was seen talking with student activist leaders and posing for photos, it is also unclear if she went into the building that was being occupied.
In one of the pictures, Senator Payman knelt in front of a Gaza solidarity encampment sign with her fist raised in the air.
It comes on the same day that her colleague, federal Education Minister Jason Clare, called for the student protesters to leave the building, again highlighting the divide between Senator Payman and other party members.
Mr Clare said the University of Melbourne “had made it clear” that the students were to vacate the building and the protest wasn’t worth being expelled over.
“If you’re a student that has gone to all the effort to get to university and get into the course you really want to do then you end up forfeiting that opportunity, you’d want to think again,” he said.
Mr Clare also said though students have the right to protest, they were pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable.
“There’s a place for protest but there’s no place for hate or intimidation or anti-Semitism in this country,” he said. “We’ve seen in the lifetime of our grandparents the evil that anti-Semitism can wreak, and Jewish students have made it clear to me that they’ve been made to feel unwelcome at university and that’s not on.”
Separate activists group, Disrupt Wars, also managed to block access to a room in a second building at the university for a short period on Tuesday night.
An Instagram post by the group showed university furniture blocking the front doors of the Old Arts building as well as a notice posted to a window that read “building out of order”.
The post by Disrupt Wars threatened more action in the future.
“We will not allow the university to operate business as usual while they are complicit in a genocide currently taking place,” the post read. “We will continue to liberate our places of learning until there is no longer any blood on our degrees.”
The University of Melbourne claimed that more than more than 16,800 students have had their classes disrupted already by the University of Melbourne for Palestine group.
A spokesperson for the university said the second blockade was short-lived and the activists had been moved on by Wednesday morning.
“We can confirm that there was a minor incident overnight where people entered the Old Arts building,” the spokesperson said.
“They have since left and the building is fully operational.”
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