UPDATE: Demonstrations at the University of Birmingham

Guardian Education reports protests at eight English universities including Birmingham. A week-long occupation at LSE ended peacefully last night after the school's director Howard Davies issued a joint statement with students which included a pledge to back a fundraising drive for Palestinian scholarships, as well as the setting up of, "a working party to look at socially responsible investments that will be "content to receive" proposals about disinvestment from companies implicated in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories."

The Gaza Conflict Reaches Home: Demonstrations at the University of Birmingham

Extraordinary events, in the context of the recent history of the University of Birmingham, in the last 48 hours....

On Tuesday afternoon,  a group of students protesting the Israeli invasion of Gaza ---- I was told there were more than 40 --- occupied a lecture room, hanging a banner on the balcony overlooking the University Quadrangle. A detailed statement by the students condemned both the Israeli military offensive and the firing of rockets into Israel and emphasised:

We are acting in solidarity with Palestinian students whose right to education is being denied by the current conflict (both directly and as a consequence of a) the killing and injuring of hundreds of students, teachers, and other workers associated with education in Gaza during Israel’s military operation; b) the deliberate targetting and destruction of university buildings, the destruction of schools, the ministry of education, and other educational infrastructure in Gaza as part of Israel’s military operation; c) the conditions of the illegal occupation enforced by the Israeli military and supported by the political and military leaders of the state of Israel within the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, which includes deliberate strategies to restrict the movement of students and generally disrupt education within the territories.

The demonstration turned into a mini-standoff with police before University officials and students reached an agreement. Under that agreement, the Vice-Chancellor of the University is meeting student representatives today to hear their petition and a list of nine points for action, which includes a public discussion of the issues surrounding the Gaza conflict. As I write, there are two demonstrations involving, according to one of our readers, about 250 students.

This may not seem much, both in the context of Gaza events and the size of other protests, but Birmingham has not had a significant student demonstration since the 2003 Iraq War and has not had an occupation since I started here in 1989.