Demonstrators affiliated with Gaza overtake the graduation lawn at Cambridge University
A student demonstration supporting Palestine has intensified at the University of Cambridge, culminating in students occupying the lawn outside the university's central administrative building on Wednesday morning.
The campaign began last Monday, with about a hundred students congregating on the lawn outside King's College, a constituent college at Cambridge. They pitched tents and demanded the university to divest from companies involved in Israel's ongoing conflict with Gaza.
These organizers have requested that the university disclose all its relationships with companies and institutions considered complicit in the ongoing displacement of Palestine. They aim for the university to sever such ties, support Palestinian students and scholars, and commit to defending academic freedom.
The protest has now entered a new phase. In the early hours of Wednesday, the protesters set up a new encampment on the lawn of Cambridge's iconic Senate House by scaling its surrounding fences. This new location threatens to disrupt impending graduation ceremonies scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Cambridge for Palestine, the leading group organizing the protest, delivered a deadline of 5pm on Tuesday 14 May for negotiations with the university's senior administration. The university, however, opted to communicate with the encampment via the Cambridge University Student Union. Cambridge for Palestine views this move as an indication of the administration's reluctance to address the student action as a serious matter.
The escalation followed one day after a British-Palestinian staff member on the Student Union resigned, citing the body's failure to support the encampment and publicly opposing Israel's military actions against Gaza.
Protest organizers have stated that they will vacate the Senate House lawn once the university fulfills the movement's conditions and arranges a negotiation meeting. They added that disrupting graduation is their last resort and a step they wish to avoid.
On Tuesday, over a hundred protesters, led by ten Cambridge academics, presented an open letter demanding divestment from Israel to the university's pro-vice-chancellors, Bhaskar Vira and Kamal Munir. It was revealed on Sunday by Middle East Eye that according to the Trinity College Student Union, the college council at Trinity College, Cambridge's wealthiest constituent college, voted to divest from all arms companies.
However, the college chose not to announce this decision publicly following an act of vandalism involving a portrait inside Trinity of Lord Arthur Balfour. It was reported in February that Trinity had £61,735 ($78,089) invested in Israel's largest arms company, Elbit Systems, which produces 85 percent of the drones and land-based equipment utilized by the Israeli military. Trinity College, when asked for comment, did not confirm or deny the vote to divest from arms companies.
Pro-vice-chancellor for education, Professor Bhaskar Vira, stated in a statement to student newspaper Varsity on Wednesday: "The university has been in regular and ongoing contact with students affected by the tragic events in Gaza and Palestine. We support freedom of speech and peaceful protest within the law." He added that the university is open to engaging with students but is only able to engage in constructive dialogue with identifiable groups.
Background Information:
- Significant Divestment: King's College, one of Cambridge's largest colleges, has announced plans to divest from all arms companies. This move follows months of student protests and is seen as a significant victory for the Palestine movement.[1][2]
- Protest Encampment: Cambridge's student demonstrators have set up a pro-Palestine encampment outside Trinity College, urging the university to divest from investments related to Israel. The encampment was reopened in May 2025 to reiterate demands for transparency and divestment from companies like Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and Boeing, which are linked to military research.[4][5]
- University Response: The university established a working group to review its investment practices in response to previous protests. Student protests, however, claim that the university has limited student involvement in this group and has adopted "anti-protest" policies. Despite these difficulties, the university has not fully divested from all targeted investments.[4][5]
- Student Activism: Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) has been instrumental in organizing these protests, alleging that the university is complicit in genocide by refusing to fully divest from arms companies. Students have occupied various university sites to raise awareness and apply pressure on the administration to act more decisively.[4][5]
- The student organization, Cambridge for Palestine, has strategy of analysis and advocacy, focusing on the middle east conflict between Palestine and Israel.
- Their ongoing campaign involves education-and-self-development, aiming to enlighten others about the ongoing troubles in Palestine and foster support for Palestinian students and scholars.
- Amidst this political climate, the latest development includes occupying the Senate House lawn, an act that threatens to disrupt general-news events like graduation ceremonies.
- The organization previously delivered a deadline for negotiations with the university's senior administration, emphasizing their opinion that the university's current relationships with potentially complicit companies should be disclosed and severed.
