Close to 200 protestors marched through the University of Otago’s Link and to the Clocktower today singing and chanting in support of a free Palestine. This is the most recent in a series of peaceful student actions calling on the university to publicly condemn the genocide in Palestine and to boycott and divest from Israeli corporations.
Following speeches at the clocktower, an Otago Students for Justice in Palestine (OSJP) organiser gave a rallying cry for students to enter the clocktower and begin a sit-in, a move carefully planned by OSJP harkening back to current Vice-Chancellor Grant Robertson’s very own clocktower occupation in his university days.
The energy changed quickly when students were met with violence. Campus Watch and Proctor Dave Scott forcefully held the protestors back at the door, shouting and pushing them back through the entrance. A Campus Watch officer grappled a student who had made it past the front doors and was standing in the entranceway. In an attempt to wrestle her backwards, he collided with an interior glass door which shattered.
“I was appalled to see Campus Watch put guarding the Clocktower above the safety of our students. We are a peaceful group, and that was a totally excessive response,” said an OSJP spokesperson.
Upon seeing broken glass, OSJP called off the sit-in and the group retreated to the outside stairs. The rally continued in the form of a 100-strong chain of people along the clocktower’s front wall as well as further waiata and chanting. The morale of the protest remained high despite the unexpected violence of the university security and the arrest of one student.
“It is important to remember why we are here: tens of thousands of people are being slaughtered in Palestine and our university has done nothing. We will continue to call on them to endorse the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement for a free Palestine,” said Schulz.