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Sydney University orders protest camp to leave
By Daniella White
Sydney University has ordered the sprawling pro-Palestinian encampment to pack up and leave campus almost eight weeks after it sprung up on the quadrangle lawns.
Vice chancellor Mark Scott wrote to organisers on Friday instructing them to vacate the site, which has been occupied by dozens of tents since April 23.
Scott told the organisers the camp needed to be cleared so the lawns could be remediated in time for the start of semester two’s “Welcome Fest”.
It came after university management put up signs on Friday morning saying unattended items would be confiscated and security removed broken items and packed-down tents.
A university spokeswoman said the institution had tried for weeks to negotiate with encampment representatives to come to a peaceful resolution.
“Following the last rejection of our proposal, we have also now instructed the encampment representatives that we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space,” she said.
“The front lawns are a shared space, and as we have said previously, our shared spaces should be welcoming and inclusive to all members of our community. Since 24 April, the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others.”
Student Representative Council president and one of the protest organisers, Harrison Brennan, said the camp had not decided what its response would be, but would meet in the coming days.
He denied the camp was exclusionary, saying: “This has been one of the most welcoming and heartwarming spaces I have been in my life.”
“While it may appear to the public they have let us camp here ... the university has repressed us this entire time,” Brennan said.
University management posted signs saying unattended items would be regarded as lost property.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“In reality we have been inundated with arbitrary cease and desist letters about university by laws.”
The university said it has continually had to remove rubbish and broken items from the site and had asked owners of unoccupied tents to remove them.
“We have repeatedly stated since the encampment began that we support the right to peaceful protest, provided it does not cause significant disruption to core university operations,” the spokeswoman said.
“We consider preparations for semester two to be core university operations, and any activity that impedes our ability to prepare for them in the usual fashion constitutes a significant and unacceptable disruption.”
The Sydney University encampment has been in place for eight weeks.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Scott promised to review the university’s investment portfolio related to defence and security industries before a senate divestment discussion, in exchange for the protesters leaving.
He also promised to establish a working group, which would include representatives nominated by the camp, to undertake a comprehensive independent review of the university’s research partnerships, including those with defence companies. The university pledged to disclose its research ties to weapons companies, while complying with its legal obligations.
The protesters – who demanded the institution cut all ties to weapons companies and Israeli universities – rejected all offers made by the university, labelling them “incredibly inadequate”.
The encampment followed widespread student protests in the United States that started at New York’s Columbia University. Some were forcibly dismantled by police, leading to mass arrests.
Students at the University of Melbourne and Curtin University left their encampments after those institutions agreed to disclose their ties to weapons companies.
Other encampments in Victoria were disbanded following threats of expulsion from universities.
The University of Sydney previously allowed the encampment to remain despite pressure from some Jewish groups to shut it down.
The camp has remained largely peaceful, but it was embroiled in controversy when a group called Families for Palestine organised a “kids excursion to Sydney University Palestine solidarity encampment”.
Last month, two students associated with the camp were suspended for a month for “seriously disrupting” classes.
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