Radcliffe Square, Oxford
Pro-Palestine protests have dominated my short time as an Oxford student. Activists interrupted my matriculation ceremony in October with an impassioned plea on behalf of those affected by the war in Gaza. The railings put up to monitor the encampments around the Radcliffe Camera have blemished the Universityâs most famous and beautiful library. And today, news that protesters representing Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) had stormed, climbed and occupied the Radcliffe Camera greeted me when I arrived for my politics lecture.
A single line of firefighter tape strewn between a bench and the lamppost enticed more spectators than it turned away. Halfway up the building, activists stood and sat in groups of threes, holding the Palestinian flag and donning what has become the causeâs international uniform: a mix of keffiyehs, medical masks and balaclavas. At ground level, a shoddy barricade of chairs, desks and other library paraphernalia stood as a deterrent to University authorities. âDo you think theyâll let me return my books?â a first-year historian joked.
But for all the vigour of the 9am takeover, the scene two hours later was lacklustre. The few signs draped from the side of the building suffered spasms in the wind; even when still, their slogans were far too small to be read by passers-by. I managed to decipher that one said âdivestâ, which was echoed in the response I received from an OA4P representative on the libraryâs ledge. In a statement this morning, the group condemned the University’s âdeplorable financial and material supportâ for Israel’s âoccupation and apartheidâ.
Overall, the activists seemed to have hoped for mere disruption, operating under the assumption that everything else would follow naturally from there, while onlooking students commented on attempts that were rather amateurish in comparison to the scenes of last summer. OA4P claimed that it had renamed the building the Khalida Jarrar Library, after the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine â which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union.
Waning enthusiasm for the movement means the University has faced few real tests this academic year. The anniversary of the 7 October attacks was hardly observed at all, in part because Oxfordâs shorter terms meant that much of the student population was still moving in. Disruptions to matriculation ceremonies two weeks later consisted of singular students marching into the Sheldonian Theatre, only to be apprehended and removed a few minutes later.
Today, I heard one completed call-and-response in the 45 minutes I stood in Radcliffe Square. There were cries of âOccupation no moreâ and âIsrael is a terror stateâ, which have rung out since October 2023. Otherwise, there was probably more ridicule of the protestersâ actions â and that the library had been closed until further notice as a result â than there was genuine support for the cause. Even spectators sympathetic to Palestine wondered whether a protest that only disrupted the lives of students and left University officials unperturbed was the best course of action.
A smattering of police officers and University security staff were dotted around the square, with one assuring me that there was a âprocess in placeâ in the occasion that escalation became necessary. Another declared the policeâs commitment to âfacilitating lawful protestâ. Even when protests began to pick up around 2pm, police hardly dictated events. A lone member of security staff on the other side of the RadCam informed me that he thought the Universityâs lethargic response was inadequate going forward, given the significance of some of the books that the library houses.
Most striking of all was that student crowds were unmoved for hours. Whether burrowed away in some other library or simply uninspired, the most activism-friendly group in politics didnât show face until lunchtime. Police and University officials did eventually make substantive moves to remove protestors, but perhaps a quick response was unnecessary. Oxfordâs first major protest of 2025 lacked the nous, scale, and spirit of those prior, and Palestine activism on campus appears to be diminishing fast.
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SubscribeThere are people sympathetic to the Palestinians but then there are some of the activists I see online who are so extreme in their views, and are often supporting views for the ‘remigration’ of Jews from Israel/Palestine. When they do this they are showing they aren’t a progressive cause.
Oxford University exhausted by Palestinian protests. Is probably the headline you are looking for.
Oxford University demeaned by its lack of will to deal with the Palestinian protests. And now exhausted by them. Is another take. Is thas what the author is trying to say?
I’m none the wiser. He very carefully avoids criticising Oxford or the protesters.
More Unherd waffle.
Iâve noticed you never respond to any comments. Iâll assume youâre not able to actually articulate why you post what you do, you merely copy nonsense youâve read elsewhere
Pot and kettle I think
In what way? 90% of my comments are responses to others, explaining why I agree or disagree with them. This clown simply posts the exact same quotes onto every article then fails to back up his posts when challenged on them
Isn’t that the definition of AI? Same as that Socialistic Puppy guy; remember him? The robots aren’t going to turn us into Soylent Green, they’re going to bore us to death.
I don’t respond to trolls. Or not very often.
I know, you simply report any comment that challenges you instead
Most âpro-Palestinianâ protesters are actually ant-Israel, anti-democracy and anti-capitalism; anything that is anti, which includes anti-racist (except for anyone of Jewish or Anglo-Saxon descent), anti-tyranny ((except for the tyrant of their own beliefs) and anti-profit motive (except when making a personal profit from the taxation of the majority population they so despise).
Progressives donât seem to get how badly their brand was damaged by the cheering on of the mass rape and sexual torture and murder of women and children. What happened to #MeToo? Are we still upset about the male gaze? Arenât you the empathetic people. Keep cheering on Islamofacism – you are digging your own grave. If you want to see your political future look to the US.
We haven’t got a Trump, or a Musk
Or even a right wing party. That got eaten out by the Left.
Soon the US will be looked on by us a mythlike land of sunshine.
I wouldnât want a Trump, Musk or any other clown currently masquerading around the States. Iâd want a competent leader who can fix the problems Britain faces, rather than importing nonsense from across the pond
And there we have England’s future. Millions of Billy Bobs spitting and kicking.
Which are you going to call your Labour utopĂa Billy? Goatland or Land of the Goat?
Millions of goats all reading Unherd and spitting.
I wouldnât have voted Labour this time if I was still eligible, it would have likely been Reform even though me and Farage are poles apart in financial policy. In the UK Iâve voted Labour, Tory and UKIP, and in NZ Iâve voted Labour and NZ First. Make of that what you will
What does that comment even mean? The closest party that matches my preferred positions is probably the SDP, but theyâre unfortunately too small to make a difference to anything so in the meantime if I still lived there Iâd be voting for what I perceived to be the least worst option.
If I was a yank Iâd have probably voted for Trump simply because Harris appeared to be worse, but that wouldnât mean Iâd support his sucking up to all the tech bros as I think that will be incredibly damaging to the prospects of large swathes of the working classes. Their recent comments around the visa row about importing low wage workers would have confirmed my worst fears in that regard.
Just because I agree with Musk about the grooming gangs scandal (although I question his motives for doing so, seeing as he hasnât said a word about it until recently when it has become politically convenient to do so) doesnât mean I have to believe that heâs some oracle who is to be believed or even trusted on other subjects
You go quiet when challenged donât you darling?
They’ve changed the headline!
Well done Unherd.
Now can you change the article too please?
You see fellow subscribers. There are only 312 of us but we can make a difference!
(Billy goat I count as a human being and the j watson Labour hydra account as one human being too.)
What is it you actually want from the site? 5 articles a day calling Starmer a c**t?
Integrity and decency.
So please explain why believe all the articles you copy and paste your replies onto are lacking in either integrity or decency
The integrity and decency on this site was just fine before you arrived and started to sully it.
Your agenda is to try to destroy Unherd. You haven’t a cat in hell’s chance: you’re nowhere near intelligent enough.
In short, you’re wasting your time. But carry on… you’ve paid your subs, which the Unherd team will take whilst you continue to p1ss into the wind.
Deo gratias.
What utter bores these protesters are. What do they think theyâre achieving?
Protesting against the genocide of innocents.
“Another (police officer) declared the policeâs commitment to âfacilitating lawful protestâ”.
Except when the protest is against illegal migrants
What has been the reaction to the theatrics of the hostage exchange? Today four young Israeli female soldiers were paraded on stage with a large number of masked and heavily armed Hamas fighters / terrorists. I guess they needed all the weapons because the four young women could be a real threat to them.
Goodbye Unherd…You’ve become complete progressive trash
How come the Tories didn’t see Blair’s Education, Education, Education as a means to left wing control of our Schools, Universities, Public Sector, Charities, Police, Judiciary, Civil Service etc etc. Because they didn’t face up to this political onslaught, becoming woke flag bearers too, even if Labour are defeated at the next election how would anyone be capable of dismantlingthe great Blob?
How disgusting of a low for Unherd of to stoop to.
Palestinian children are being slaughtered in Gaza every day, hospitals are bombed, doctors are disappeared, prisoners are gang-raped to death, and âconservativesâ are crying because students dare to raise their voices against a genocide carried out with the full backing of their government.
Is Unherd a real conservative publication or the Israeli-bootlicking conservative type?
What a fantasist are you!
Interesting news article; translation: well-written too. I’m in USA and an old guy, and that may contribute to why I so favor the policies–past and present–of Suella Braverman. Please bring her back for a rejuvenated program of social awareness and activism.