Plans by anti-war campaigners to collect signatures urging alternatives to conflict in central Asia were dealt a blow when the University of Western England (UWE) students’ union refused to allow peace vigil activists to its annual freshers’ fair on Friday 28 September.

The decision was taken after several UWE students contacted the union representatives to request access to the event. Sabbatical officers voted against the idea and warned students that security staff would escort anyone involved in the campaign off the Frenchay-based campus.

Signature-gatherers - who defied the ban - expressed outrage at the decision and vowed to continue in their efforts to publicise the city centre peace vigil that is one of the longest running in the country.

A representative from Bristol Peace Group explained that the aim of the action was to "talk to students and tell them about the peace vigil ... to communicate and get the petition signed". She said that many of the students she spoke to were supportive and felt it was wrong they had been refused entry while university-based Royal Navy and the Territorial Army groups were given full access to the fair. A nearby stall-holder expressed astonishment at the decision: "We want to show (students) all the wonderful things that Bristol has to offer but there's a serious side too".

At the adjacent Rn'B Society a club promoter said the university's decision flew in the face of their stated anti-discrimination policy: "They don't want freedom of speech because of extremist views but this is humanitarian … it’s helping to get rid of discrimination”.

The 21-year-old then slammed the sabbatical office for allowing commercial groups - including Telewest Digital and radio network Star FM - access to the event’s principle courtyard area. “They give a lot of time to people coming in with big money which squashes little societies. As a small group we’re swamped by it”.

A representative from UWE’s sabbatical office expressed support for the anti-war initiative but said the union’s decision reflected a concern that the campaign might “create the sort of atmosphere we didn’t want at the fair … we didn’t want to attract megaphones and people running around campus”. They also explained that since key reforms of the armed forces university-based military groups have had the same rights as other UWE clubs and societies.

They went on to state that the sabbatical office had successfully located new sources of external commercial revenue that allowed for a more “focal welcome” at the freshers’ event while also allowing UWE societies to run their stalls for free. “The only way we can have the event is to have those kinds of groups there”, they said.