A leading Revolutionary Communist Party student organiser has been arrested at a student-led protest at University College London (UCL) earlier today.
The protest, led by the UCL Coalition for Palestine as part of a national student day of action, was organised to call out the university’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The main demand was for the university’s bosses to cut their ties with arms manufacturers like BAE Systems, whose profits are soaked in Palestinian blood.
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Scandalously, the UCL management called the Met Police in – on its own students!
Our comrade gave a speech calling for student and worker control over universities, for a mass movement against imperialism, and to kick capitalism off campus.
Comrades report that a Zionist provocateur then complained to the roughly 20 police officers that were present that the speech was offensive.
Then, without warning, multiple police officers surrounded our comrade, detained him, dragged him off to one side, and arrested him. Following the arrest, our members report that a “battalion” of police officers arrived.
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Repression of Palestine movement
Clearly – while our politicians support war crimes, and members of the ruling class are implicated in sex-trafficking and abuse – the Met has nothing better to do than to repress young people, simply for expressing their democratic rights by protesting an ongoing genocide.
Meanwhile, the likes of Benjamin Netanyahu, Keir Starmer, David Lammy, Yvette Cooper, and the rest of the corrupt, bloodstained establishment are left to walk around free and undisturbed, despite their endless list of crimes against workers and the oppressed. What a sick joke!
This arrest is the latest in a long line of egregious clampdowns on the Palestine movement.
This started under the Tories after 7 October 2023, and included the arrest of another RCP member in February 2024, and the targeting and intimidation of our activists by the Met Police.
Starmer’s government has dutifully continued this repression in the interests of British imperialism: scandalously proscribing Palestine Action and carrying out mass arrests last year, and sickeningly ignoring the hunger strike of pro-Palestine political prisoners earlier this year.
What you can do to help
We were given no reason for the arrest by the police. We will update with further information on our social media channels.
We call on our comrades, supporters, and readers to share this article and our social media posts widely, and to join our protest against this arrest at Charing Cross Police Station at 19:00 today.
We have also set up a fundraiser for any potential campaigning and legal costs, which you can donate to here.
With its blatant disregards for democratic rights, and its willingness to use its hired thugs against peaceful protestors, the Labour government has made it clear which side of the class war it stands on: on the side of the Washington warhawks, City of London bankers, university bosses, arms manufacturers, and the Zionist ruling class in Israel.
The task of building a revolutionary movement against imperialism has never been greater. We call on anyone outraged by this egregious attack to join our campaign, and join the Revolutionary Communist Party.
- An injury to one is an injury to all! Free our comrade immediately!
- Free Palestine! Fight British imperialism!
- Down with Starmer’s state repression! Mobilise to fight for our democratic rights!
