Pro-Palestine students at one of the UK’s top universities have said they were denied university access over security concerns during a visit by the Queen on Tuesday.
Students at King’s College London said they were barred from attending classes and sitting exams because of their political activity, a claim which appears to be supported by comments made by a senior university official, who said that students were blacklisted based on CCTV footage.
Coming one day into Israeli Apartheid Week, a range of actions in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the incident raises fresh questions about the increased securitisation of universities and tolerance of dissent on campus.
Dressed in pink, the Queen had stepped out to thronging crowds on Tuesday to open a refurbished building at the university’s Strand campus in central London.
Meanwhile, six kilometres away in south London, medical student Asif, who asked to be identified by his first name only, had arrived early to sit a compulsory exam but had been blocked from the university building where it was supposed to take place.
A member of the Action Palestine student society, Asif reached out to other student activists who also said they were blocked from accessing university premises.
Ten students have now come forward, claiming that they were banned from all campuses, libraries and cafes and were unable to attend exams, work shifts, classes and assessed presentations.
Drawn from Action Palestine and KCL Justice4Cleaners, a fair-wage campaign for cleaning staff, they said in a statement: “The students affected by this are all core organisers of campaigns that have established themselves as effective, successful and resistant to university apathy and reaction.”
Source: MEE
