An activist who heckled Nancy Pelosi and a student welfare officer who “liked” social media posts celebrating Hamas, were among dozens of students seen taking part in protests at Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Rosy Wilson, 19, was among the activists who set up a pro-Palestinian camp outside Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum.
Ms Wilson was previously removed from the Oxford Union after she and another protester hijacked a speech by Ms Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The students waved Palestinian flags after they disrupted her address at the debating society on April 25.
They were removed by Thames Valley Police as the crowd inside the chamber applauded.
Ms Wilson also joined a number of activists from Just Stop Oil who disrupted a fundraising dinner held by Anneliese Dodds, chairman of the Labour Party and MP for Oxford East, in February.
She said she was supporting the environmental activists as a member of protest group Oxford against War Crimes, and presented a letter to Ms Dodds demanding that Labour stop all new oil and gas licences.
In a video, filmed by Just Stop Oil, she is seen holding a Palestinian flag, and shouting: “Labour is supposed to be the party of the people and yet it refuses to stand up for human lives.
“We know that all genocide is interlinked, we know that all human suffering is interlinked and we have to stand up against it.”
Ms Wilson, who is studying philosophy, politics and economics, was pictured at the camp protest on Monday, despite her fellow activists denying she was in attendance.
Face masks
At the encampment in Cambridge, Harvey Brown, Cambridge Students’ Union’s welfare officer, was spotted wearing a floral top and a face mask.
Mr Brown was seen coming and going throughout the afternoon and, on Monday evening, The Telegraph saw him climb into a tent with a large bag, which appeared to suggest he may stay overnight.
He came under fire in October when The Telegraph revealed that he had liked a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, that supported the Oct 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
One such post heralded “a day of celebration” as “Hamas fighters cross into their colonisers’ territory”.
After an outcry from Jewish students, Mr Brown apologised for his “rash” actions.
While he is not thought to be among the lead organisers of the Cambridge camp, he answered “no comment” when The Telegraph approached him on Monday afternoon to ask about his involvement.
Ringleaders remain anonymous
None of the ringleaders of the protests, either in Oxford or in Cambridge, wanted to be named and the majority were wearing masks, or keffiyehs, a scarf symbolic of Palestinian nationalism.
One woman, who led chants with a microphone in Oxford, was approached by the Telegraph but she refused to give her name or explain why she had decided to protest.
Another Oxford protester, who was willing to talk, albeit anonymously, said they had been inspired to set up camp at the university after seeing similar protests in the US.
The woman, a PhD student, said: “We’re here with these demands, and we’re not planning to leave until the demands are met.
“We’re taking a lot of inspiration from the international movement in the US.”
Campus demonstrations across America descended into violence last last month as riot police forcibly shut down encampments at several universities.
The demonstrations began in the US earlier this year to protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching its deadly attack on Israel.
‘Global chain reaction’
Kendall Gardner, a Jewish-American PhD politics student, was one of a small number of protesters in Oxford willing to be named.
“The one aim of the protest that comes to mind first, is following this global chain of reaction that Columbia started and showing solidarity with them,” Ms Gardner said.
Asked why they had targeted the Pitt Rivers museum, she said: “This museum has not returned the artefacts that were taken and pillaged during extraordinarily violent times of the British Empire.
“We are trying to call attention to the role that this university has played in the ongoing colonisation of many places around the world, including Palestine.”
She added: “As a Jewish person, it means a lot to me to be able to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and carry on these legacies of resistance that honestly connect us more than divide us.”
Source Agencies
