Students staged a walkout from lectures and seminars to attend a protest in support of Palestine outside the Strand Building at 12 pm today. They were met by counter-protestors from Our Fight UK, a pro-Israeli group unaffiliated with KCL.
KCL Stands 4 Justice, a student group advocating for Palestine, announced the walkout on Sunday 24 November. Around 60 students joined the walkout, as part of an “international day of solidarity against scholasticide”.
Today, leaflets were distributed around Strand Campus, stating that this is “Day 419 of Genocide” and calling students to “Shut it down for Palestine.”
Roar has also been made aware that a number of lectures and seminars were interrupted at approximately 11:50 with protestors telling students and staff that the walkout was beginning.
The protest featured a number of students and staff with red paint on their hands standing below a student protestor leading the crowd’s chants in both English and Arabic. KCL Stands 4 Justice also led the encampment outside the King’s Building over the summer.
A spokesperson from the protestors claimed “almost 11,000 school students have been killed” and called for an international response. They stated to Roar that a number of Palestinian Academics had come to KCL earlier this month to help “organise the international day of solidarity against scholasticide.”
By this time a small police presence had formed.
Who were the Counter-Protestors?
A brief counter-protest emerged, centred around the group representing Our Fight UK. Our Fight UK was formed in the aftermath of the attacks on 7 October 2023 and it stands in support of Israel. On their website, they describe themselves as;
“A small group of concerned individuals–some Jews but mainly non-Jews–have come together to create a resource for anyone who feels that abhorrence for Hamas’s October 7th pogrom has dissipated far too quickly.”
One of the counter-protestors told Roar that Our Fight UK is not a student society and none of its members are students.
A number of students who decided to protest alongside Our Fight UK were unsure of who they were and believed they may have been the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Our Fight UK brought a banner reading “Stop the lies, there is no genocide in Gaza,” seen below.
Why were KCL Stands 4 Justice protesting?
In an Instagram post caption, KCL Stands 4 Justice announced why they were staging this walkout:
“We demand that KCL condemns Israeli war crimes especially the murder of Kings College fellow, Dr Adnan Al Bursh, who suffered horrific torture and sexual abuse which led to his death.”
Dr Adnan Al-Bursh was detained by the IDF on 19 December 2023 and died in an Israeli prison in April 2024, there are reports he was abused and assaulted prior to his death.
Roar will update this story as it develops.
