Boot This Camp

The University of Melbourne is being urged to immediately call in police to evict a pro-Palestine encampment that has occupied a faculty building for almost a week, ignoring a final demand to leave from the vice-chancellor.

Activist group UniMelb Students for Palestine on Monday asked its supporters from outside the university to defend the camp inside the Arts West building.

More than 100 protesters practised a picket line around the building in preparation for police action.

But despite the university’s ultimatum for protesters to pack up and leave or face ­expulsion – an order issued via loudspeaker at 8am – Victoria Police said on Monday it had not been asked to intervene and break up the camp.

Last night protesters hung a banner from the building that read: “Halal zone, no pigs”.

It prompted politicians and Jewish leaders to demand the university call in Victoria Police to peacefully evict activists after multiple failed ­efforts to disperse the group.

Hundreds of classes have been cancelled, buildings have been damaged and many students feel too intimidated to attend campus.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton described the “blatantly anti-Semitic encampments” as a “front for Jewish hatred”.

“The police must be brought in to restore law and order and anyone involved in a potential crime must be referred to the police without exception,” he said. “This is not about free speech – it’s hate speech.”

Senator Sarah Henderson backed calls for police to step in, saying: “Every single incident of harassment, intimidation and discrimination must be ­investigated by the university, and responsible students and staff must face the most serious consequences”.

Opposition tertiary education spokeswoman Bridget Vallence said encampments had to end.

“It’s time for the Allan government and Victoria Police to intervene and remove these protesters now, rather than let the current chaotic situation spiral further out of control,” she said.

Students at the University of Melbourne have vowed to camp inside the building for as long as it takes. Protesters at Deakin University say they will “triumphantly” shut their camp on Thursday, while Monash University dismantled tents last Friday.

La Trobe University, in Bundoora, still has an active encampment in The Agora despite the university last week issuing a directive to disband the encampment by Sunday.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry chief executive Alex Ryvchin described the protests as “thuggery”, while Liberal MP for Caulfield David Southwick urged governments to work with police and universities to shut down the encampments.

Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns, Zionism Victoria president Yossi Goldfarb, Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich and Australasian Union for Jewish Students president Noah Loven called on uni leaders to “do the right thing”.

Some University of Melbourne students were fed up after their classes were cancelled for a third day, affecting more than 15,000 people.

“You get to a point where it does come in the way of studying,” one student said. “We are at university to learn and when it gets in the way of that it becomes a bit unfair for everyone.”

A University of Melbourne spokesman said the institution was “concerned and disappointed” about students’ refusal to leave the building.

“Freedom of speech is respected and supported at the University of Melbourne and is central to our values and identity,” he said.

“However, any form of protest extending to sustained disruption for other students and staff, violence, property damage, threat or intimidation contravenes the university codes of conduct or law.”

A state government spokesman said the universities were doing “all they can” to keep campuses “safe and inclusive”.