Students occupying offices at SOAS in London have been served with an injunction and told to leave the building with immediate effect.
Protesters at the university have called for an emergency mass demonstration to prevent the eviction from the office of the school's principal, Paul Webley, at 3pm today.
An occupation insider said: "Things are getting very tense at SOAS. The bailiffs are expected here soon and there is now heavy security on the doors. We need everyone to get down here now."
UPDATE: Sophia Coles-Riley said at 6.30pm today: "Woop woop. Director of SOAS has agreed to call off eviction and to negotiate with occupiers."
VIDEO FROM INSIDE THE EVENT:
The occupation was in response to the detention of nine cleaners who had been employed to work at the university by ISS - which in 2007 boasted an operating profit of £49.3million. Five cleaners have already been deported.
A demonstration has also been called for 4.30pm today at the Malet Street entrance of the university.
Picture: Jess Hurd at reportdigital.co.uk
Students at the occupation claim the company, with the knowledge of the university, reported the cleaners to the Home Office because they had taken part in a successful campaign demanding a pay rise to the London Living Allowance.
Graham Dyer, the UCU chairman at Soas and lecturer in Economics of Developing Countries and SOAS UCU Chair supports the occupation.
He said: “It is no co-incidence that there is an immigration raid at a time when the UCU, Unison and the NUS are fighting against the victimisation of a migrant worker who has been at the heart of a fight that has improved the pay and conditions of workers here at SOAS.
"It is also not coincidental that ISS had only just signed a union recognition agreement with UNISON last week. Our fight has united lecturers, staff and students and has rocked SOAS management. Those managers are now lashing out."
George Galloway MP said: You have my full support for your excellent and highly principled initiative in protesting against the detention of nine cleaners at SOAS and I am dismayed that as many of five of them may already have been deported.
"I will be writing today to the Home Secretary to add my voice to those urging the release of the SOAS detainees and to Professor Paul Webley, the Director and Principal of SOAS."
Picture: Jess Hurd at reportdigital.co.uk
Jean Lambert, the Green Party MEP, added: “The circumstances and aims of this raid are utterly deplorable.
"These cleaning staff have been treated like criminals, and the timing of the raid is particularly reprehensible – first thing in the morning at the end of the university term, with fewer people around to intervene."
Alan Smith, the Interim Secretary and Registrar, confirmed the university was aware of the arrests.
He said in a statement: "We understand this must have been distressing for those involved, and indeed our own colleagues.
"We have been informed that nine people have been detained for further questioning and ISS is liaising directly with the Border Control Agency at this stage.
"We have received assurances from ISS that the standard of cleaning in School buildings
will be maintained."
At 6.30am on Friday the 12th June, without any advance warning SOAS cleaning staff were called to an emergency ‘Staff Meeting’, were confined in a room and then confronted by a team of 40 immigration officers who had been hiding under staged seating.
More to come.
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1 comments:
Dear Everyone,
Below is a letter we have drafted for you to send to Professor Webley (Director of SOAS) to his email account (pw2@soas.ac.uk). Professor Webley and his office have requested an injunction to evict us from his offices, which we have inhabited since yesterday morning. We did this not only as a symbolic action to protest against the arrest and subsequent deportation/detention of SOAS cleaners, but also as a resource space, from which to organize our campaign.
Please send the letter below on your behalf to Professor Webley’s and circulate to as many people as possible.
Thank you.
Email to: pw2@soas.ac.uk
Dear Professor Webley,
I am writing to protest against your recent actions to evict SOAS students, staff and wider members of the “Stop the Deportation of SOAS University Cleaners” campaign from your office, which was inhabited on Monday 15th June as a result of your complicity in the arrest of 9 cleaners by the UK Border Agency on Friday 12th June.
I am concerned by your lack of understanding and the aggression you have shown through initiating an injunction on Tuesday 16th June against those that have inhabited your office.
Instead of using the last 24 hours to work effectively towards the release of the two cleaners that are currently held in detention centres and redressing your complicity by publicly condemning the actions of ISS, UKBA and the Home Office, you have been working against the very people who are your closest friends: Students, union members, staff, and all those that believe in a common humanity.
This campaign is a peaceful one; it is not set on using violence to attain its goals nor is it one that strives to achieve what you might consider unrealistic outcomes. Rather, it is one which is based on firm principles condemning the violent and inhumane treatment of migrant workers in this country.
SOAS is a university which prides itself for its international outlook. Today, as much as in the past, you have people from across the world walking your corridors, all of whose presence is a blessing to the school. Whether one is a student, a cleaner or both, surely the school should be protecting and supporting all those that walk its corridors?
The Campaign has given you a reasonable list of demands which it feels are not difficult for you to carry out and uphold. The campaign has requested this directly to you because we believe that you are in a privileged position of power to be able to unseat the injustice that has now gone one step too far. You have the capacity to effect change, to undo the wrong you have committed, and then to set a precedent, to ensure that this incident never takes place in a British University again.
I urge you to re-consider your actions and halt this injunction, to work cooperatively towards the goals of the campaign, and at the very least, to ensure the immediate release of the remaining detainees and prevent their deportation.
Yours sincerely,
Name
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