Forced heavy handed eviction of University of Birmingham occupiers

 Last night students determined to remain in occupation and create an area for free and constructive debate, where removed by excessive force by university security assist by the police.

I’m proud to say the student involved, remained peaceful in spite of personal injuries and very distressing scenes.

This report is compiled by testimonies of a UCU representative present and three students who are pressing charges of assault but, wish to remain unnamed for now.

During the period 18:30-19:00 students were removed from the maths-physics bridge, where on their first day back at university they had immediately re-occupied the university.

Please read the below testimony, it is most accurate we can provide, we have started a petition against the use of force on peaceful protestors and in support of the occupation calling on the university to take a more enlightened approach in the future, to protect its students and its reputation. this can be found here, please sign


another version of this that works outside facebook can be found here.

As one student describes.

“We were directly in front of the door. The guys inside undid the d-lock and tried to get us in and lock it before security could gain access. At this point, all hell broke loose. I was the first one in and another guy was behind me, we tried to get him in but one of the security guards had him in a headlock, strangling him, we tried to from another human chain to get him in but they got him to the floor, he was completely restrained and i witnessed another security guard assault him because he could. Another girl got punched to the floor by a security guard and they tried to drag her and me out. Another girl got a completely unprovoked punch to the chest which I think knocked her to the floor (I saw the same security guard try to apologise to her after)”

Another student tells a very similar story of the start of the violence by university security and police.

“I saw the doors to the occupation open to allow further students inside, whereby the 3 security staff took the opportunity to wrench their way in too. I stood and linked arms with 2 other men to create a human blockade in peaceful protest, at which point the tables were kicked towards us, and I was headbutted by a police officer, causing my lip to bleed and substantial swelling. At this point, when being forced against the wall by the police officer and told to 'stop' (at this point I was bleeding from the face) I left the building in a very shaken state.”

This video taken in the immediate aftermath as the last students are being pushed out shows a female student in a very distressed state describing this happening to her.

this can be found on youtube here

Another describes the view of the action from further back in the room.

“I saw the doors open to let more students in, then the security barged in, i kinda blanked for a bit, and then remember being behind one of the girls (brown hair, pony tail, black trousers and black long cardy) when one of the guards pushed her backwards stretching her back and then punching her, and then claiming he'd done it because she was trying to 'damage his equipment' which she blatantly wasn't. At this point i took a step back from the situation as I get panic attacks and knew I wouldnt be any help if I suffered one.”

A UCU representative, describes his attempts to gain access to the corridor outside the occupation so he could watch a impartial advisor and what he saw and heard from his position.

I decided from that point (in consultation with two other UCU branch officers) that a UCU member should stay around the site of the occupation in order to provide some observation, which seemed particularly necessary in the light of the intransigence on the side of the University, and the ominous sounding 'other measures' that the University was apparently inclined to employ to secure an eviction.

“I waited outside for about an hour. One member of security staff had told me earlier that the occupation would not be permitted by the University to go on beyond 5pm. At around 5pm, someone who appeared to be a University manager arrived with a number of security guards. I and a few other observers waiting outside thought this might be the sign of the forthcoming eviction, so we followed them to the door of the occupation. As we waited outside, we were told that we needed to clear the area. I explained that I was a member of staff and that I was concerned that an observer needed to be present during the eviction. A policeman informed me that I was not allowed to stand on the stairs, or at the back of the corridor (away from the occupation room) as there was an incident happening. I repeated that I was concerned about how the eviction would proceed, and for the safety of the students inside, but was absolutely denied permission to wait and observe and was informed that I had no reason to be concerned as the police would ensure that no-one was hurt. I was subsequently told to leave, first the stairs, and then the entire Watson Building. 

I subsequently discovered that one student had already by this point been involved in an altercation with the police, which apparently involved a policeman kneeling on the back of a student lying on the floor. This was witnessed by a member of staff (and UCU member), who repeatedly insisted (to no avail) that the policeman stop. 

I waited outside the Watson Building with a group of students. A small number of the members of the occupation began to leave the occupation for various functional reasons (one left to speak with the press, another left to empty the bucket that the students had been forced to use as they were still denied access to the toilet), and these leaving students also joined us outside.

At about 7pm we could hear screaming and shouting from inside the building. Two students stumbled outside the building in a very distressed state - one claiming in a very distressed manner that he had been headbutted by a policeman as the police and security guards sought to enter the occupied room. The student's lip was bleeding and very swollen. I reported this to the security guards waiting outside the Watson Building and asked if they were about to do anything to help the student. They refused to assist and informed me that the police were inside the building if I felt something should be done. This student proceeded to inform the police, by phone, that he had been assaulted.”

The first student quoted continues with a description of the continuing violence and then loss of property.

I remember getting dragged the floor, I think a guard tried to get me in a lock but i wriggled my way out. I was also screaming at the guys that they were strangling the guy in the headlock and killing him. I stood there for a while and when I turned my back to walk away and this was when toothless guy lunged at me, grabbed my hair and yanked me back, very painfully. In someone else’s words "he really went for you with his face snarling... I also saw him pacing about like he was gonna rip someone’s head off before his boss sat him down in a chair". This same guy got sat down by his boss and told to be calm, he has serious anger problems.

 I also witnessed one guard punch a girl to the floor, punch another in the chest (he tried to apologise to her after). We started packing up and security were throwing all our stuff away, they tried to take someone’s laptop but didn't manage, the one who had punched the girl in the chest threw away a d-lock so lord knows what else he might've thrown away when we weren't looking. They confiscated a £500 projector claiming it was theirs and also took someone’s speakers claiming it was theirs.

The UCU rep describes the exit of the remaining students some 30 minutes later.

“About 30 minutes later the students exited the room. Reports from the students were that they had been treated very heavy-handedly indeed. One student reported that she had been punched in the face, another reported that she had been pushed across the room, and it was reported that another had been grabbed around the neck and dragged out of the room. One of the students who left the occupation was very visibly shaken and needed considerable consoling. All of the students were very upset and visibly shaken by the eviction.

I then watched as the policeman who was reported to have headbutted a student was questioned by the same student who was making this allegation as to why the policeman had chosen to act in this way. The policeman claimed that he had not in fact headbutted the student, but rather that the student had presented an obstacle to the policeman in the policeman's attempt to access the occupied room, and that 'if my head happened to make contact with yours' that was unfortunate but it wasn't a headbut. When the same student asked whether he could report this incident to one of the other policemen he was subsequently denied this demand on the grounds that it wasn't 'procedural' for an accompanying policeman to receive such a report.

In the light of these events it seems to me that it would have been highly advisable for the University to permit an observer to these proceedings, particularly if it transpires that a dispute occurs with the University, police and students each having different accounts of the eviction process.”

Our petition can be found here.

This was not the limit of the violence by security; additional attacks are reported earlier in the day reports on which are being complied now.

kettling the kettlers, stuck outside the door

We have been kettling the university security now outside for over 5 1/2 hours, they went onto overtime at 2:30, god knows how much this action is costing the university, how much cheaper would it be to take a more elignterned approach, many university have allowed students go ahead and helped faciliate peaceful occupations like this one.

how long can the security wait before the need the toilet?

Locked outside of the occuption

Currently, there are around 15 students who have been locked outside the occupied lecture theatre in Birmingham University. keeping spiris up with songs and games.

The Physics bridge study space was  occupied at 11am this morning in solidarity with staff who are at threat of redundancies by University management.

pre aranged speakers like climate activist and poet danny chivvers and UCU member Sue thomas are amongst them. they are hoping to take part in a fundraising poetry slam and public debate on fees and cuts.

students are well supplied inside and are waiting for universitys response hoping for a the university to facilate a peaceful occupation.

The University and Security are refusing to let students into the occupation, so that we may have an open shared space for a wider education debate.

We are being denied access to water, sanitation and food supplies.

Please call 01214143344  and 01214144536 (uni switchboard) to complain and demand students access. 

Occupation

We are not being allowed to get anyone in or out of our occupation please ring one of these two numbers to voice your complaint: 01214144536 or  0121 4143344

Birmingham University Students in Occupation!!

Birmingham students have occupied the maths-physics bridge to protest against threatened redundancies and department cuts. We have turned this shared space into an open forum for a wider education debate.

We warmly invite you to come along and join in the occupation!

Why are we in occupation?

We are in occupation because the university are placing many jobs under threat, causing unnecessary stress to staff and causing long lasting damage to the development of the university Birmingham.

Staff Job losses are already affecting the student experience, job losses at sociology essentially reduced students degrees to what they could gather out of the library, theology cuts reduced the number of staff departmentally to 20.

Right now research fellows in the School of Education have been formally placed at risk of redundancy after a review that as unfair, inaccurate and rushed, find out more about this case on our blog seehttp://birminghamstudentsagainstcuts.blogspot.com/

We demand that the university makes a pledge to not make any unnecessary cuts, to run all reviews, with an external advisor, take into account staff/student criticism, give staff fair opportunities for input and take all decisions to democratic bodies like the senate.

For the education staff we believe this entire process must be restarted, this time done fairly and the staff in the education department given an apology, for the needless stress caused them by the manner of the review.

We demand the university does everything in it is power to keep fees down and pledges to make sure that education remains a resource that all can access. We demand that plans to cut scholarship budgets in College of Engineering and Physical Sciences are reversed.

We demand that the university is open with it cuts to Geography, biosciences, environmental sciences, the medical school, European Languages, Ancient and Medieval Studies, Theology and Religion and African Studies International Development Department that it has outlined in the sustainable excellence plan

We demand that the university criticizes the Browne review as a socially regressive plan and that David Eastwood apologises for his role in encouraging cuts and fees.

cuts in the education departmeant.

8 research fellows in the School of Education where on 4th November 2010, were formally placed at risk of redundancy as a consequence of a review of research staff carried out during the Summer. This review started on the 16/7/10. Staff were invited to provide information on their research, teaching and administrative workloads and details of funding. They were only given a period of 5 days to so, with opportunities for input closing on the 21/7/10, a ridiculously short period of time considering many staff were on leave in the summer. 

The review itself was based on outdated information from previous reviews. Its methodology it employed only looked at a snapshot of time between Oct ‘09- July ‘10, which unsurprising has not led to an accurate picture of the education department. 

Furthermore, the review is, in part, based on a workload allocation model that seems was only partially adopted by the School. While research staff sent at least 13 pages of collected comments, points of inaccuracies, the final report which the university management acted on remained virtually unaltered and still contained typos, wrong grades of staff and misspelling of names. 

Additionally , The involvement of an external consultant is good practice in a review of this nature and in the subsequent redundancy consultation process.No external consultant has been used.

The review itself undermined many of its own principles; including retaining researchers with the highest potential to achieve excellence in research; recognising and valuing researchers as a key component of delivering world-class research; strengthening the attractiveness and sustainability of research careers; promoting personal and career development at all stages of a researcher’s career. 

The performance of the research staff in question is being judged against narrow job specification criteria outlined by the College, but never made explicit in contracts of employment. Despite being encouraged to undertake different duties by the School in the past, in particular key administrative and teaching roles and RAE/REF activities, it now seems these are viewed inappropriate for research staff. 

I believe this entire process must be restarted, this time done fairly and the staff in the education department given an apology, for the needless stress caused them by the manner of the review.