London university SOAS embroiled in row with its Palestine society after students temporarily suspended ‘for their conduct’ at Gaza solidarity rally
- It came following a rally held two days after Hamas’s devastating terrorist attack
A London university has been lambasted by its Palestine society after it temporarily suspended a number of students over their ‘conduct’ at a Gaza solidarity rally.
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has been accused of committing a ‘targeted act of political repression’ after it took action against a number of pupils.
The SOAS Palestine Society said the university was ‘silencing’ its members, including those who had not taken part in the rally on Monday, October 9, the Telegraph reports.
It also claimed it had ‘a moral imperative to organise against the imperialist and Zionist forces on our campus’ and demanded the university ‘revoke the formal warnings’ given to its members.
SOAS has hit back, claiming the action was taken ‘pending investigation’ after a small number of students broke ‘venue protocols’ during their rally.
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has become embroiled in a row with its Palestine Society. Pictured: The SOAS Student Union
The SOAS Palestine Society claims it has been targeted in an ‘act of political repression’ after a number of its members were suspended by the university
It came after dozens of students gathered to support ‘the people of Gaza in their struggle against the occupation’, days after Hamas terrorists murdered hundreds of people in Israel.
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The rally, which took place outside the university’s main building in central London, saw speakers praise militants who had died in conflict with Israel and speak dismissively of the terrorist attacks by Hamas.
Video of the event posted on social media shows one speaker saying: ‘Our thoughts right now are with the Palestinian martyrs, their families, the Palestinian resistance fighters who sacrifice their lives everyday so that the flag of Palestine may fly above their land.’
The same person later attacked those who are ‘dismissive of this Operation Al Aqsa Flood [the Hamas name for the attacks] as a work of terror or a work of fundamentalism’, saying that ‘it is our duty to resist settler colonialism and unequivocally support the national liberation of the Palestinian people.’
At the gathering there were also chants of ‘resistance is justified when people are colonised’ and ‘there is only one solution, intifada revolution’.
Another speaker accused Israel of being a ‘client state’ of Britain which is used to ‘wreak havoc on Iraq, Libya, Syria and anywhere else it can get its hands on’ adding that ‘Israel, Britain and the US stand together against the people of Palestine’.
While details as to the alleged inappropriate conduct have not been released, the SOAS Palestine Society said: ‘The rally began on the steps of the main building, where rallies have historically been held at SOAS, and later safely moved to the green space opposite the main building, when a fire alarm sounded and the main building was evacuted. Needless to say, no Palestine Society member was in any way responsible for the alarm sounding.’
The organisation demanded SOAS drop all disciplinary proceedings against people at the protest and ‘revoke’ formal warnings given to its committee members.
SOAS has said the Palestine Society members were suspended because ‘event and venue protocols were not followed’
However, SOAS has said the students were not suspended because of free speech issues, but because ‘event and venue protocols were not followed’.
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In a statement given to The Telegraph, SOAS said: ‘We regret that in this instance that despite agreeing an area for the Students’ Union Palestine Society to conduct its rally, the institution’s event and venue protocols were not followed even after multiple requests to do so.
‘Additionally, during the rally, multiple fire alarms were activated across our buildings that forced us to evacuate all buildings, which created a potentially significant health and safety issue as well as the school having to cancel lectures and all SOAS activities for the rest of the day.’
It added: ‘We wish to be clear that this suspension pending a further investigation is being imposed on a small number of students not because they engaged in solidarity action, but because they violated an agreement with the executive, supported by the Students’ Union, which disrupted our teaching, learning and wider activities and led to a significant breach of health and safety policies and procedures.’
SOAS said it fully supported ‘the right to peaceful protest’ and it was ‘not the role of a university to sanction or silence of our community where some may be offended by their views, provided they are not violating the law or breaching our institutional policies’.
However, it added that it would investigated and take appropriate action if actions or statements made by staff or students are ‘potentially unlawful or do potentially breach our policies or expectations of behaviour.’
MailOnline has contacted SOAS for further comment.
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