A GROUP of students who took over a Glasgow University building have ended their protest.
Thirty students "occupied" the Charles Wilson Building at the University of Glasgow on Wednesday morning.
The students insisted they would not leave until the education institution "commits to sever all ties with the arms industry and enforces an academic boycott on Israel and its supporters".
The occupation is part of an ongoing student campaign co-ordinated by the Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society (GUJPS), a student activist group.
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 Palestinian student occupying the building said: “I’m here today because Western institutions cannot keep profiting off the blood of my people in Palestine with immunity.
"As students of conscience, we’re here to hold this shamelessly complicit university accountable and show them that no repressive action they take will deter us from fighting for Palestinian liberation.”
Another student said: "They invest over £6m in the murderous arms industry – including over £1million in BAE Systems, who make missile systems for F-35 fighter jets, the same jets Israel used in its genocidal bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Enough is enough.
"We will not leave this building until the University makes a firm, public commitment to divest from these merchants of death.”
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."
On top of the protest, three students at the university announced they were beginning a hunger strike to 'increase pressure on the university to sever ties with the arms industry and Israel'.
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’
