Cambridge University to block pro-Palestine student protests for four months [Getty]
The University of Cambridge has been condemned by activists and rights groups for obtaining a High Court injunction that effectively bans pro-Palestinian protests on its campus until 26 July, in what critics have described as a chilling attack on free speech.
The ruling, coinciding with the final graduation ceremony of the academic year, was issued by Mr. Justice Soole, sparking widespread condemnation among activists and human rights groups.
The university had initially sought a more long-term injunction, requesting a five-year order to block protests related to the Israel-Palestine conflict on its grounds.
However, last month a judge rejected this bid, citing its overreach. In a second attempt, Cambridge University returned to court in mid-March, to seek a four-month order to prevent disruptions during key graduation events.
The court’s decision was grounded in the argument that there was a “real and imminent risk” of recurring protests, which had already disrupted ceremonies in previous years.
Cambridge’s legal team claimed that a 2023 protest, where activists affiliated with Cambridge for Palestine staged an encampment that forced the relocation of a graduation event.
Critics have slammed the ruling as an alarming escalation in efforts to silence voices speaking out against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, where over 61,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s months-long onslaught, which has devastated the enclave and triggered accusations of genocide.
Cambridge for Palestine condemned the injunction as a “violent move to criminalise and police our movement,” accusing the university of attempting to suppress criticism of its financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes.
“It is more important than ever to resist attempts to shut down protests for Palestinian liberation. The extent of the 5-year injunction the University originally asked for demonstrated that they were seeking to restrict protests, which called out the University’s complicity in enabling genocide,” the group said.
“Instead of acting urgently to review their investments, the University has stalled and sought to silence their critics with this injunction. We remain deeply concerned about the broader trend of universities using legal measures to target solidarity with Palestine.”
Ben Jamal, Palestine Solidarity Campaign Director, added: “The very week that Israel has torn up the ceasefire agreement and renewed its full-scale genocidal assault against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the University of Cambridge should be taking steps to end its complicity in these crimes and supporting Palestinian students, not seeking draconian powers to silence them.
“While the university failed to obtain the full five-year ban on protests that it originally sought, this decision is still a chilling attack on our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and protest. The university should listen to its staff and students and cut its financial ties to companies linked to Israel’s violations of human rights and international law.”
The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) argued that the injunction was an unwarranted infringement on the human rights of protesters, setting a dangerous precedent for silencing campus dissent.
The group claimed that the university’s actions appeared to single out pro-Palestinian activism, contrasting it with other protests, such as those supporting Ukraine, that had not been subjected to similar restrictions.
Legal advocates also voiced concern that such measures would deter future protest actions across university campuses.
Ruth Ehrlich from the civil liberties group Liberty warned that this ruling could “severely restrict protest rights” and undermine the ability of students to engage in social movements.
Defending the injunction, the university insisted that it was never about preventing lawful protest but about maintaining order during critical academic events.
Cambridge University told The New Arab: “The university welcomes today’s decision at the High Court. We took this action to protect the right of students to graduate and to prevent access to buildings that contain sensitive, confidential information. This was never about preventing lawful protest.
“The injunction safeguards a very small part of the University estate from an occupation that would prevent graduations from going ahead. It also protects the right of our staff to work.
“Protests occur regularly at the University, including a rally held immediately outside Great St Mary’s church during the last graduation ceremony while an injunction covering the Senate House, a few yards away, was in place.”
