STUDENTS from the University of Glasgow have taken over a campus building to host a series of lectures on Palestine.
The Charles Wilson Building has been occupied by Glasgow Against Arms and Fossil Fuels (GAAFF) and Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society (GUJPS) in a bid to host several lectures and air several documentaries on the state of the Gaza Strip and student activism.
Referred to as a “teach-in”, the move is part of an ongoing student campaign coordinated by GAAF and GUJPS to call for the university to sever ties with arms companies and enforce an academic boycott on Israel.
At around 8am on Friday, students from GUJPS and GAAFF entered the University building and invited students and staff to participate in the educational events.
The students are also calling for the occupied building to be renamed from the Charles Wilson Building to Ahmad Manasra Building.
A banner that reads “Dar Ahmad Manasra” which translates to “Home of Ahmad Manasra” has been placed on the university building.
Ahmad Manasra is a 23-year-old Palestinian man who has been imprisoned in Israel since he was 13 years old. He has been held in solitary confinement since 2022 and developed serious psychological conditions due to abuse at the hands of the Israeli military.
Ilyas Jarrar, a student involved in the protest said: “I’m here today because western institutions cannot keep profiting from the blood of my people in Palestine with immunity.
“As students of conscience we’re here to hold this shamelessly complicit university accountable and provide an anti-colonial, liberated learning zone where students can broaden their knowledge beyond the boundaries of what this university deems acceptable”.
John Turnbull, another student involved in the protest said: “Being here today is a simple moral obligation. I find it disgusting that my university can so brazenly support perhaps the most brutal genocide of my lifetime.”
Glasgow University had an endowment fund worth £262 million at the end of July 2024. A publicly available list of investments from 2023 includes shares in weapons firms linked to Israel such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Thales.
Glasgow University has been approached for comment.
