Bradford Students occupy University Boardroom in solidarity with Gaza.

Students from the University of Bradford began an occupation of the university in an urgent move to demand action from the institution. This comes as Israel today broke their assurance of a ceasefire by launching air attacks and a ground offensive, once again into Gaza.

Over 80 students took over the university board room, adjacent to the vice chancellor’s office, following a rally at midday today. There have been over a dozen successful occupations in other universities across the UK showing solidarity with the Palestinians victims.


The chief executives of the university have spent the afternoon in discussions with the whole group. they have verbally conceded to somedemandsbut refuse to confirm in writing.

The appalling Israeli action has killed over 1,300 Palestinians and injured thousands. Tens of thousands of civilians have been left homeless. Head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, John Ging, is now joining international calls for an investigation into the war crimes of the recent action, wherein Israel stands accused of using banned weapons such as phosphorus bombs, attacking medical facilities, including the killing of 12 ambulance men in marked vehicles, and killing large numbers of policemen who had no military role, amongst other atrocious crimes.

Sophia Coles-Riley, a student union officer said “Students here at Bradford are appalled at the occupation of Gaza. We feel that our university should take action to support the people of Palestine. The University’s response so far has not answered our concerns. We intend to continue the occupation until our demands have been adequately responded to.”

The university made several concessions but students did not feel that they could accept the offer on the table. So, looks like we're staying overnight.

The uni are insisting that only current students can stay overnight but those who do have Bradford student cards are free to come and go tonight. (aka Bradford students come on down!)

The Blog for Bradford is up and running. The VC's offer was rejected and the group are making preparations for an agreement tomorrow. the VC has been very good but the students are demanding one more point to be included before the demands are settled.

 http://occupied-bradford.blogspot.com/

We've all been up till 6 (helping the cleaners), printing and distributing flyers and posters and talking to the local press. The VC dropped by this morning and this is where we're at. He has said he won't back down from anything he offered yesterday but he has done research and is aware that he has made the best offer of all the VC's who dealt with occupations. He won't negotiate with the whole group any longer and wants a delegation to negoatiate with. He also says he will not negoatiate with the delegation unless the remainder of the group leave the boardroom. We are very close to agreement now given he has informally agreed to one of the key sticking points.

A letter recived today from the local Bradford MP to the occupation.

Kelly Ready
University of Bradford

28 January 2009

Dear Kelly,

I am writing to express my solidarity with your protest.

We all need to protest about what Israel has done in Gaza. We must have an inquiry into possible war crimes.

I support your demands in that the University of Bradford must:
1. Issue a statement condemning the violence caused by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and calling for the siege to be lifted on all sides.
2. Twin with the Islamic University of Gaza and erect a plaque to this effect.
3. Treat Palestinian students as home students and therefore charge them home fees.
4. Refuse to stock or contract with companies who support the Israeli occupation. This includes Nestle, Coca Cola, Walkers and Evian.
5. Pressure Lloyds banking group to act as a clearing bank for Interpal, or agree to transfer its custom to a more ethical bank.
6. Provide full finical transparency, and disinvest from any and all companies who support the Israeli occupation.
7. Support actions taking place on campus making people aware of the issues, with no repercussions for any participants.
8. Pressure the government to support an inquiry on whether Israel is responsible for committing war crimes.

Good luck, you have my support.

Yours sincerely



MR MARSHA SINGH MP
Bradford West Constituency
Posted by Ninostradamus at 00:00 0 comments

We have entered into final negotiations with the Vice Chancelor of Bradford University. We are very close to coming to an agreement!

This morning around 6am, the 20 students who were occupying the boardroom set about finalising preperations for the upcoming day. We debated our new counter-proposal and discussed the motives and aims of the occupation. The mood was cautiously optimistic.

We were just finishing discussing our expectations for the day when the Vice-Chancellor came to speak with one of the representatives of the Students Union. After feedback and discussion within the group we then agreed to establish a smaller negotiation group to discuss the final proposals with the Vice Chancellor.
The students, reasonably and peacefully moved to the University Atrium and ended the occupation as a gesture of good will and appreciation towards the university's efforts to accommodate our proposals.

The Vice Chancellor supplied the negotiation group with his written statement of acceptance of the main revised proposals. However, there was one point the students felt needed to be added to the university\'s action plan. The vice chancellor is now discussing these issues now with senior members of the university committee and will feedback to the students at midday today after these discuss.

We will keep you posted on final agreements...please check back after midday...

occupation-bradford.blogspot.com