BREAKING: Pro-Palestine protestors occupy WMG Digital Laboratory

Activists from the protest group Warwick Stands With Palestine have occupied the WMG Digital Laboratory, in a dramatic escalation of their demonstration.

In the early hours of the morning, a group of masked demonstrators entered the International Digital Laboratory, a building on campus belonging to the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG).

WMG has been the focus of student protests since demonstrators first erected tents in the piazza over seven weeks ago. They argue that the company is “complicit” in the ongoing war in Gaza by Israel, and have called on both it and the University to end all ties with the defence sector and “divest” from Israel.

This is crucially disrupting business as usual for WMG’s genocidal investments

Warwick Stands With Palestine statement

In this escalation of their protests, Warwick Stands With Palestine said in a statement online that they had been “forced to initiate escalatory action, as the University continually refuses to engage our Coalition in negotiations towards its demands.”

They declared: “The International Digital Laboratory is the location of the research, finance, and administrative offices of the Warwick Murdering Group [sic]. This occupation is successfully shutting down the operations of hundreds of offices, as well as the financial stream of the WMG.

“This is crucially disrupting business as usual for WMG’s genocidal investments, as well as informing prospective students of Warwick’s complicity on today’s open day.”

A spokesperson for the demonstrators told The Boar that they hoped: “Students will be empowered to find that they can disrupt the machinations of the imperialist world order from within their locale.”

Photos posted online by the group appeared to show barricades erected at one of the entrances to the Digital Laboratory. The group has stated that campus security have already attempted to remove the demonstration.

A story post to Instagram read: “PEOPLE NEEDED NOW @ WMG TO FIGHT AGAINST SECURITY TRYING TO REMOVE THE OCCUPIERS”.

Free speech will be vigorously protected at Warwick, as long as discourse is occurring within a framework of the law, respect, and safety

University spokesperson

A spokesperson for the University told The Boar that, “The situation has remained peaceful,” affirming that the University was aware of the protestors’ actions.

They said: “We continue to manage these demonstrations in line with our legal duty to free speech, as well as our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of everyone on campus. Free speech will be vigorously protected at Warwick, as long as discourse is occurring within a framework of the law, respect and safety.”

They added that the situation was being “monitored and reviewed”. A push notification later sent out to students via the My Warwick app indicated that further updates would be given on Monday 17 June.

A spokesperson for Warwick Stands With Palestine informed The Boar that: “Our movement will settle for nothing less than full divestment from Zionism and the total liberation of Palestine, from the River to the Sea.”

They asserted that the group’s occupation of the Digital Laboratory would only end once arrangements had been scheduled and confirmed for a meeting between the demonstrators and “senior members” of University management. They also called for amnesty to be given to all participants in the occupation of the building.

No attempts, the protest spokesperson said, had been made by the University to contact the protestors since the beginning of their occupation of the Laboratory. Such behaviour demonstrated “contempt” on the part of University management, and was the reason why “disruptive escalation on an open day was the only option left, as the genocide in Palestine intensifies.”

Any information or photographs of the demonstration? Please send them to news@theboar.org, or message us on Instagram @theboarnews. Any information will be kept completely anonymous.