Students block Engineering building in divestment protest

The protest has been planned in coordination with student activists at the University of Edinburgh.

Members of the student activist group Glasgow University Justice for Palestine (JPS) have formed a hard picket around the Rankine building, blocking all entrances.

The building, which houses the University’s Department of Engineering, contains labs, seminar rooms, and lecture theatres. As well as Engineering, its teaching spaces are also used by a number of other subjects.

In a post on Instagram, the group say: “The students at Glasgow University have blocked all entrances to the Rankine building. We will continue to put pressure on our management and court who will be meeting next week and not even discussing divestment. 

“There can be no business as usual during a genocide! We will continue to fight for divestment and for Palestine.”

They also list their demands as: “Immediate and unconditional divestment of the £6.8 million glasgow uni has invested in arms companies, cut off research ties worth £60 million with arms companies again, complete academic boycott of Israel along with any of their institutions, [and to] ban zionists and arms companies off our campus”.

This comes one week after two protestors acting as part of the group Youth Demand, sprayed red paint across the exterior of the James McCune Smith building in protest of the University’s investments. It has now emerged that one of the protestors, who is a student at the University, has been banned from campus.

The protest was planned in coordination with Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine, who have today blocked Charles Stewart House on their own campus.

This is the second time this year that the Rankine building has been targeted as part of a protest. The protesters claim they are doing so in response to the University’s research partnerships with defence companies and arms manufacturers which involve the Department of Engineering.

Following the hard picket of this building in November of last semester, some students involved in the protest were threatened with suspension in emails seen by Hillhead Review. 

The University of Glasgow previously told Hillhead Review: "The University of Glasgow upholds the right to freedom of expression, including the right of staff and students to engage in peaceful demonstrations.  

"However, we do not tolerate activities which interfere with the rights of others to go about their business in peace.”

This morning UofG students reported receiving a notification from the UofG Life app which read: “Please remember to check your timetable room/locations as there can be last minute changes. Thank you!”

It is unclear if this notification was related to the protest or if the University has been able to reschedule classes which may have been affected by it.

Published 12 February 2025 - 12:19