Birmingham and Nottingham universities win battle to close pro-Palestinian camps

• Summary detention orders allow universities to remove activists from premises

Two top universities have won the right to begin eviction proceedings against pro-Palestinian protesters who have set up camps for weeks.

The universities of Nottingham and Birmingham received High Court orders yesterday that will allow them to expel the activists.

Summary possession orders mean that if protesters don’t leave, bosses can ask to be forcibly removed by bailiffs.

Dozens of tents have been set up on the two campuses for weeks, with students calling on the universities to sever all ties to Israel.

Critics said the camps disrupted university life and created a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.

The two universities each took separate legal action against the protesters in general, as well as two named activists.

British-Pakistani Muslim student Mariyah Ali, 20, from Walsall, the only defendant named in the Birmingham case, said the legal action was a “censorship tactic”. beliefs.

Former student River Butterworth, 24, from Warwickshire, the only protester named in the Nottingham legal challenge, argued it would be a “disproportionate interference” with freedom of expression and protest rights.

However, lawyers for the universities accused the protesters of trespassing on private land, posing a risk of public disturbance and causing disruption and financial loss.

In two written judgments yesterday, Mr Justice Johnson made the orders and concluded that the protesters had no “real prospect” of showing that the universities had breached their duties or that an order would be inconsistent with their human rights.

He said there were “many other ways” activists could exercise their right to protest without occupying land, concluding that protesters were trespassing.

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Oliver Edwards, a solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represented Ms Ali, said: “My client is of course disheartened by this ruling, but she remains committed to her cause.

“Protests at universities have a long tradition in democratic society and we argue that the university is violating our client’s fundamental rights.”

He said the firm plans to appeal the ruling. The rulings follow the London School of Economics obtaining a Central London County Court ruling indefinitely banning encampments in one of its buildings after students slept in its atrium for more than a month in support of Palestine.

Queen Mary University of London has previously said it will take legal action to secure possession of its Mile End campus if the protest camps do not end.

It comes after camps have been set up on campuses across the country, apparently copying similar actions at American universities.

In May, former Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said there was “always a fear” that protests like those at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) could turn violent.

She said: “What we don’t want is for our campuses to become unsafe environments for students or staff and go down the path that you see in other places like the US…”

There is always a fear of contagion, and obviously there are some groups that encourage this as well.

A University of Birmingham spokesman said: “The court’s decision will help us ensure that all of our diverse community can go about their business and use the whole of the university campus without feeling that there are parts of the campus they cannot go”.

It said it respected the right of students and staff to protest “in accordance with the law”, adding: “We will continue to maintain our strong commitment to free speech for the entire university community.”

A University of Nottingham spokesperson said: “The University of Nottingham supports freedom of expression and our priority is and will always be to ensure that opportunities to participate in debate or protest are safe, inclusive, dignified, respectful and responsible .

“The court order will allow us to ensure that we can take action should the need arise to protect the health and safety of our university community on campus and to minimize disruption to student and staff access to the teaching, learning and research spaces that they need. .’