Students occupy building in Gaza war protest

Students protesting against the war in Gaza have occupied part of a university building.

Members of Cambridge for Palestine entered Greenwich House on Madingley Rise, Cambridge, which is part of the University of Cambridge, on Friday.

The group claimed the university had not acted on previous agreements to review investments in relation to the defence and arms industry.

The University of Cambridge said it recognised the importance of peaceful protest but said forceful entry of buildings was "unacceptable".

Greenwich House is an administrative building which includes finance operations.

In May students set up a protest camp outside King's College and the Senate House in Cambridge, to demonstrate against the university's investments.

The protests in May ended after an agreement was made for a working group, which would include students, to examine issues related to the university’s approach to investments in, and research funded by, the defence industry.

Cambridge for Palestine has accused the university of breaking parts of the negotiated terms for ending the earlier encampment and stalling negotiations.

In a statement the group said: "Cambridge for Palestine repeats its calls for an immediate end to our university's complicity in Israel's ongoing genocide, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Enough is enough."

It also made demands that the university publicly condemn Israel's actions in Gaza, that it make good on its agreement with the Cambridge for Palestine encampment and carry out an analysis of its investments.

A spokesperson for the university said: “We recognise the importance of peaceful protest within the law, and the deeply-held concerns about the current situation in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon.

"However, the forced entry of buildings and disruption of university activities by a small group of students is unacceptable."

The university reaffirmed membership and terms for a working group to explore the its relationship with the defence industry on Monday, the spokesperson added.

A further statement said earlier timescales for the working group to begin were "optimistic".

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