‘We will continue to fight’: Warwick Free Education speak out as injunction halts protest

After an impressive nine days, Warwick For Free Education’s occupation of the Rootes building has come to an end.

Upon their exit, they released a statement summarising the events of the preceding fortnight, and warning the University that further action will be taken if their demands are not met.

This is despite the University’s issuing of an injunction which banned “occupation style protest” completely, and indefinitely.

The statement called this “a political enclosure of the university campus”.

The statement, which can be read here, links the events of last fortnight to larger issues: the oppression of students of University, and the oppression of citizens by administrations such as the Police force.

The ugly scenes at the protest are blamed on Warwick’s business approach to running the university.

It says: “In 2010, however, a new imperative emerged in higher education: universities are to compete for funding in the form of individual student fees” which means they “aggressively counter perceived threats to their reputation.”

The occupation was in response to a police attack which targeted what protesters called a peaceful sit in involving about 30 students.

Caught on video the police are seen spraying students with CS gas, wrestling them to the floor, and allegedly using tasers on students.

The police were called to campus by the University after a security officer claimed to have been assaulted. The students deny this, or any provocation, occurred.

The statement read: “[This is a] contrived pretext for bringing state-sanctioned violence to bear on anyone who might hinder the University’s ability to control its reputation.”

The following day over 1000 students from all over the UK protested to show solidarity for the students. Speakers disputed police violence, and demanded a “cops off campus” reform. The protest was entirely peaceful and ended in an occupation of the upper floor of Warwick’s Rootes Building.

Although Warwick for Free Education have ended their occupation, they have not ended their activism. They issued an ultimatum along with their original demands.

This said: “If the University does not take steps toward addressing them by 6th January, it will face further protests. The University needs more than court injunctions to stop this movement.

“We will continue to fight against the policing of dissent and the cancerous effects of marketisation, irrespective of the legal risks.

“In the attempt to criminalise dissent, the University has not silenced us, but only made us more outraged, more determined, and more ready for direct action.”

The statement ends by highlighting the importance of student political activism, and the success it can bring.

It reads: “As many members of our community will know, the Student Union building, including the SU offices and the various bars and other facilities was only granted to students on our campus as a direct result of a long period of occupations and protest.

“Some may also be aware of the occupations of the campus branch of Barclays Bank in the early eighties as part of a concerted and successful effort to make the University break its dependence on a financial institution that profited directly from the fascist South African Apartheid regime”.