This past week has been dominated by the occupation Of Lower College Hall by students in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Along with St Andrews the other universities occupied have been SOAS, LSE, Essex, King’s College, Birmingham, Sussex, Warwick, Manchester Met, Oxford, Leeds, Cambridge, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, Nottingham, Queen Mary’s, Manchester, Strathclyde, Glasgow, Goldsmiths, Edinburgh, UEA, Plymouth, UAL, Cardiff.

The St Andrews occupation lasted from 18-25 February and concluded when an action plan was agreed with the University administration. I had the opportunity to address those in occupation on the first day of their action and again on the concluding day.

Coming as I do from a background of student activism supporting the cause of students exiled from Chile and South Africa, I have long experience of direct action events (including having blockaded a St Andrews University committee into a meeting room because of what we perceived to be a lack of urgency on the issue of high student failure rates).

So too has the Principal, Dr Louise Richardson, who during the week also came down to Lower College Hall and spoke of her anti-apartheid protesting, whilst making clear her view that the University would not take a stance on the conflict in Gaza.

Although there were points of friction and frustration during the week as negotiations stalled, my sense is that the action was handled sensibly on both sides. Over 200 students were involved and messages of support came in from people like Noam Chomsky, whilst practical support came from Maisha restaurant who supplied free food!