A group of around 150, organised by Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P), rallied outside the Sheldonian Theatre during Vice-Chancellor’s awards on 8th May, aiming to hand their demands to Oxford University’s leaders.
They gathered at 2pm outside the Theatre to demand that the University reveal and divest funding in Israel and arms companies, and boycott all institutional connections with Israeli universities.
Protesters travelled from the ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment and elsewhere in Oxford to the Sheldonian Theatre to deliver their demands. Shouts of “occupation no more” and “Israel is a terror state” could be heard and a banner titled “Our Demands” read: “Disclose all finance. Divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid, and occupation. Overhaul university investment policy.”
Some protesters standing outside the locked gates to the Sheldonian Theatre had painted their arms blood-red and held them up to onlookers. A sign was displayed at the front of the demonstration which read “Stop Israeli attacks on Gaza”. Police and members of Oxford University Security Services were also present at the protest.
A student at the protest told Cherwell: “it’s completely justified [referring to the concerns of the protesters]” and emphasised how the conflict has reached the point where people can no longer do nothing. Students described Israel’s recent actions as a “genocide”, and one sign read “Oxford Uni complicit in genocide”.
The protest lasted just under an hour and protesters dispersed at around 3pm.
The rally takes place on the third day of encampment outside the Natural History Museum. During the encampment, also organised by OA4P, members of the University have called for the University to disclose and divest investments into arms companies and those with connections to Israel. They have also demanded that Oxford cuts institutional ties with all Israeli Universities.
An open letter, written in support of the encampment, has received over 350 signatures to date. The letter also calls for the Vice-Chancellor to “unequivocally condemn the killing of over a hundred university professors and Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s educational institutes and universities.”
The day before, Cambridge students’ encampment delivered envelopes with their demands to the Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellor.
