Since Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) encampment “disbanded” after last term following an eviction notice from the University, the organisation has made clear their continued presence through a succession of events staged during the first weeks of Michaelmas term. Here’s a summary of their action, and the University’s response.
On 15th October, OA4P hosted a “Picnic for Palestine” in collaboration with ten other student societies, according to an old Instagram post. The event, held in University Parks, was advertised as “food and friendship”. Hours before the event, the University emailed some of the societies to inform them that the picnic was not approved to take place, an OA4P spokesperson told Cherwell, while other societies including Biology Soc, Vegan Soc, and Student Union Class Act were permitted to host similar picnics in the parks.
OA4P went ahead with the picnic but removed the other societies from its advertisement to “protect” their status. At the picnic, members of OA4P told Cherwell that they believe the University hoped that the new year and deconstruction of the physical encampment represented an end to OA4P’s action, but that this was not the case.
The following day, OA4P organised a “keffiyeh study” session in the upper floor of the Radcliffe Camera, where members of the University were invited to co-work independently whilst wearing keffiyehs. OA4P documented on social media how librarians at the Rad Cam responded by placing written notices only on the occupied desks, stating that the Rad Cam is an “inclusive and welcoming space for all readers”, and that users must behave in a way that is “conducive to productive study”.
The University told Cherwell that they have “clear policies on free speech and the right to protest”, and maintained that these policies have been carried out consistently in response to protest action by OA4P.
Later that day, OA4P released a statement on social media expressing solidarity with the unaffiliated group Palestine Action after they sprayed the University’s Wellington Square administrative offices with paint and damaged the ground floor windows days earlier. In a statement posted to social media, OA4P acknowledged their “shared goals in highlighting the complicity of the University of Oxford in Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide”.
The University told Cherwell: “OA4P has broken rules on acceptable protest on a number of occasions and expressed solidarity with the violent criminal damage inflicted on the Wellington Square offices. As we have made clear, students who have crossed the line into unlawful or unacceptable behaviour may expect disciplinary action, fines or suspension.”
Concluding the events of First Week, OA4P held protests during matriculation, disrupting two ceremonies and staging a “die in” at the entrance to the Sheldonian.
