LSE pro-Palestine encampment becomes first to be forced to stand down after court order

A pro-Palestine encampment inside the Marshall Building at the London School of Economics (LSE) has been dismantled after losing a legal battle.

The protest group were issued an interim possession order (IPO) at a court hearing, ordering them to end their sit-in within 24 hours.

LSE applied for the court order after “exhausting all other options”. They cited the potential fire risk posed by the group as well as its “considerable cost and disruption”.

The occupation began on 14 May, with students vowing to continue until LSE met their list of demands. These included divestment, and democratisation of the financial decision-making process.

They also called for LSE to publicly condemn Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, and provide scholarship funding to Palestinian students.

40,000 people dead, you’re evicting us instead

LSE protest chant

The encampment was initiated following the release of the Assets in Apartheid report by the LSE Students’ Union’s Palestine Society. This report claimed LSE had invested £89m in 137 companies involved in fossil fuels, the arms industry, and nuclear weapons production related to the war on Gaza.

Annabelle, an LSE undergraduate who participated in the encampment, told BBC News: “The rally was energetic but peaceful.”

Ethan Chua, a spokesperson for the protest group, called LSE “shameful” for deciding to “criminalise them instead of engaging with their substantive demands”.

An LSE spokesperson said: “[The interim possession order] was applied for following careful consideration, including in relation to the safety of the protesters. This decision was taken after exhausting all other options.”

District Judge Kevin Moses said at the hearing in Central London County Court that while the students had the right to protest, “what it does not do is give parties an unfettered right to occupy other parties’ premises with a view to protesting, particularly when they are required to leave”.

When handed the eviction order, protesters were heard chanting: “40,000 people dead, you’re evicting us instead.”

Once the court order expires, there is nothing to prevent the students from returning to the building

LSE is the first British University to evict a student encampment.

Once the court order expires, there is nothing to prevent the students from returning to the building, but they cannot “occupy it to the exclusion of others”.

Daniel Grutters, a representative for three of the students, said: “Seeking to remove them, only to allow them to re-enter but for spending the night, is not a decision that is maintainable.”

A further hearing will be held at a later date.

Encampments are happening across many British universities in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.

The University of Birmingham has become the latest institution to seek a court order to end an encampment.

At Warwick, a demonstration by student-staff group Warwick Stands With Palestine is ongoing.