Students from campaign group have occupied building

Three students at Glasgow University are beginning a hunger strike to pressure management to sever ties with the arms industry and Israel.

They are part of a 30-student-led occupation of the Charles Wilson Building, renamed the Dar Ahmad Manasra, after the former student who was killed in Gaza.

The students are part of ‘Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society’ (GUJPS), a student activist group that has been coordinating the divestment campaign. 

The society claims the university’s £6.8 million of investments in arms companies such as BAE Systems make it complicit in war crimes, including the genocide in Palestine where Glasgow University alumnus Dima Alhaj and her six-month-old baby were killed. 

A student taking part in the hunger strike said: "The university has shown that it is happy to be complicit in the death and destruction of thousands of Palestinian lives, so we have decided to bring the implications of their decisions to their doorstep."

Another student involved in the strike said: "We have tried every single other avenue and now we are left with this extreme form of protest. We will continue to show our solidarity with the Palestinian people, especially while our university continues to fund genocide and ethnic extermination.

“Even during the so-called ceasefire agreement, Israel banned aid and food from entering Gaza. What we are going through is a choice, we have chosen to hunger strike. Whereas the children in Gaza have no choice but to endure their forced starvation.” 

The protesters also demand they must face no repercussions and no disciplinary action.

Additionally, they want the university to lift a campus ban imposed on fellow protester Hannah Taylor who used a fire extinguisher to spray the James McCune Smith Learning hub in water soluble paint.

A University spokesperson said: "The University of Glasgow upholds the right to freedom of expression, including the right of staff and students to engage in peaceful demonstrations. 

"However, we do not tolerate activities which interfere with the rights of others to go about their business in peace. 

"As an institution, we stand against hate or harassment of any kind.

"We regularly communicate with all our staff and students about the need for tolerance towards each other, and we reiterate this call for all members of our community to be respectful to each other at all times."