Pro-Palestine students and staff at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia have criticized the university's directive to halt their sit-in as an “attack on free speech,” and pledged to continue rallying against the crackdown on their encampment until their demands are met.

Following Deakin University's lead, La Trobe University issued an official instruction on Friday for protesters to dismantle their encampment on the Bundoora campus, amid a series of student-led pro-Palestine sit-ins nationwide.

Monash University confirmed on Friday that the student encampment on its Clayton campus in Melbourne's south-east had disbanded. At the same time, the University of Queensland has indicated its intention to end its pro-Palestine camps.

Earlier in the week, the Australian National University (ANU) urged a group of pro-Palestine students to disperse their on-campus encampments or risk "violating the university's code of conduct".

Students take over Melbourne Uni. Arts West building

La Trobe University affirmed its commitment to allowing students and staff the freedom to protest, albeit without encampments. However, Students for Palestine La Trobe slammed the university, accusing it of trying to suppress pro-Palestine encampments.

A Palestinian student confronts the Vice-Chancellor about the University of Melbourne's Lockheed Martin partnership.

The arms firm Lockheed Martin provides the Israeli airforce with the F-16 and F-35 jets to bomb Gaza with.pic.twitter.com/qGH57NCvg7

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) December 1, 2023

Meanwhile, student activists have taken over the Arts West building at the University of Melbourne for four consecutive nights. Both university administrators and protest organizers have yet to reach a resolution regarding the ongoing sit-in.

Mahmoud received a scholarship study anywhere in the world, and he chose the University of Melbourne. Devastatingly, he was killed by Israel's genocide last week.

Uni Melb's Gaza solidarity encampment renames Arts West to Mahmoud’s Hall. pic.twitter.com/vvEKSK1Sr4

— sara m. saleh | سارة صالح (@SaraSalehTweets) May 15, 2024

The students have renamed the Arts West building as Mahmoud Hall, paying tribute to a Palestinian student named Mahmoud, who had planned to attend the university but was killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza last week.

On Friday, Dana Alshaer, representing the University of Melbourne for Palestine group, stated that protesters had endeavored to engage in an "open dialogue," yet the university's leadership had not addressed their primary demands.

Alshaer emphasized that it would be up to the university to decide whether they wished to emulate the scenes where US police, outfitted in riot gear, forcibly dispersed a pro-Palestine encampment at Columbia University.

In the same context, Deakin Students for Palestine announced on Friday that their on-campus encampment would host a “closing rally” next Wednesday after defying a second order to disband. The group also pledged to continue their protests next semester.

'We are not going to stop protesting for Palestine'

The Students for Palestine Monash group reported that after nine student protesters were banned from the encampment, university security "forcibly dismantled" the site.

The group announced that a protest rally is planned for Tuesday at the Clayton campus.

“We are not going to stop protesting for Palestine,” they said as quoted by The Guardian Australia.

The Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) passed on Saturday a motion condemning the university management’s application of student misconduct regulations against the Monash protesters and called for these actions to be rescinded.

In a statement, the NTEU described the encampment as a “non-violent and peaceful” form of protest and expressed “deep concern” that students were being targeted.

“This action raises important questions about whether Monash University is committed to protecting freedom of speech,” they stressed. “The right of staff and students to express political views is critical to the mission and function of universities.”

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