Sheffield University students bring back Palestine solidarity camp in Weston Park after previous eviction

The Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine (SCCP) said the new camp was in “malicious compliance” with a court order granted to Sheffield University in July 2024, when they were moved from university grounds after three months.

One member of the encampment told The Star: “None of us could accept to just stop when they told us to... What we really want to do is reignite the new student body.”

Participants in the camp often have their faces covered when outside, but in a brief interview inside the tents with The Star, those coverings came off for a frank conversation about the group’s aims.

The SCCP has returned with the same demands as before, listed simply as “divest, boycott and accountability” but have added a fourth noted as “freedom”.

“We want the university to recognise our aims,” The Star was told, “We want freedom from university repression. Students have had investigations brought against them before.

“We want the university to divest from weapons manufacturing and boycott Israeli institutions.”

The University of Sheffield declined to comment on the camp’s return when contacted by The Star, but has previously said it allowed the earlier camp to run for three months in attempts to balance the right to protest with health and safety on their campus.

The SCCP members added: “We stand in solidarity with Palestinian people both in the UK and Palestine... Starting the new academic year, we want to reignite that community we built at the end of last term so people can come and learn and talk.

“The encampments serve as a constant reminder to students that there is solidarity with Palestine in Sheffield and across the world.”

During the conversation, it was pointed out how, despite being camped outside the students’ union for three months, Sheffield University is reported to have never met the SCCP’s demands, never accepted an invitation for a meeting and enjoyed a record number of applications for the current academic year.

One SCCP member said: “I think we knew with the amount of money Sheffield University is involved in [with companies in the arms trade], it wasn’t going to be an overnight solution.

“Maybe by the end the university wasn’t listening, but we have other tactics.”

The previous encampment on the Sheffield University concourse was in place from May 1, 2024, before it was evicted on August 1, 2024 - following the “eviction order” granted by the courts.

After the application to the courts was made, a spokesperson for Sheffield University said:“The camp has been outside of our Students’ Union building since 1 May and is raising a number of health and safety concerns, as well as causing ongoing disruption to university activities and our community. As a result, we have initiated legal action, with the aim of drawing the camp to a close.”

Tens of thousands of lives have been lost in the conflict in Gaza since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2024, which killed over 1,000 Israelis.

Since then, the Israeli Defence Forces have launched sustained rocket attacks and ground incursions into Gaza, which have killed more than 41,000 Palestinians including 16,500 children.

The new Sheffield encampment is in Weston Park, on a piece of council land directly underneath the office window of university Vice Chancellor Koen Lamberts.

Councillor Kurtis Crossland, chair of the Communities, Parks and Leisure Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “We are aware of the encampment that has been set up in Weston Park and along with our partners at South Yorkshire Police will be monitoring protests and activity, which are currently peaceful, over the coming days.”