Support the QUB 3!FRFI publishes the following statement from the QUB3 solidarity campaign:
Three Queen’s University Belfast students are currently fighting charges brought against them for protesting against Hillary Clinton’s visit to the campus in November 2024.
On 14 November 2024, students and pro-Palestine activists held a protest in opposition to the Global Innovation Summit which was hosted on campus. This Summit saw the attendance of representatives of arms manufacturers who directly profit from the genocide in Palestine such as Lockheed Martin, and warmongers such as Hillary Clinton, who is the unelected Chancellor of the university. This protest was part of the wider student struggle to pressure the university to end its connection to Clinton, to divest completely from any Israeli companies, to support the academic and cultural boycott, and to remove war profiteers from the Chief Executive’s Club of the university.
Whilst students had initially sought to unveil a Palestinian flag on the front lawn of the university – as they had done before – just before they could do so, they were met with batons, kicks, and ultimately arrests from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Four activists were arrested – initially on the grounds of aggravated trespass – and were taken to Musgrave Street Police Barracks, where a solidarity demonstration soon developed. After hours in the station, one activist was released without charge, while all three of the other protestors were charged with resisting arrest, two with obstructing police, and one with assaulting an officer. Not one of them was charged with ‘aggravated trespass’, which begs the question: why were these protestors arrested in the first place? Further, in the case of the assault charge, this was only slapped on when the student arrived at the station and an officer accused him of doing so, yet he was not arrested for any alleged assault at the scene itself. Of course, arbitrary arrests and harassment are nothing new in the north of Ireland, with the PSNI acting as a rebranded Royal Ulster Constabulary (the colonial police force imposed to defend British occupation and partition of Ireland).
Despite this clear attempt at repression, the wider movement for divestment continues, and the students remain at the forefront of actions, including disruptions to recruitment fairs for arms companies and British Army stalls on campus.
A new court date has been set for 1 May 2025, and a campaign has now been launched – following legal advice. The aim of the campaign is to get the charges dropped against all three students by writing to the Public Prosecution Service (Belfast) to demonstrate that it is not in the public interest to prosecute students, who, in reality, represent the pro-Palestine views of the vast majority of Irish people. In just ten days this campaign has been endorsed by former MEP and outspoken anti-war activist, Clare Daly, as well as Mary Manning, who initiated the Dunnes Stores Strike against apartheid South Africa in 1984. Messages of support and solidarity have also poured in from Brazil, Britain, the USA, Germany, Kenya, Sweden and Palestine.
The QUB 3 Solidarity Campaign urges all people of conscience to write to the: Public Prosecution Service (Belfast Chambers), 93 Chichester Street, Belfast, BT1 3JR, to demand that the charges are dropped. Any and all messages and displays of solidarity are greatly appreciated. Find template letters and more information for the campaign on our Instagram,
Tiktok and BlueSky at @qub3solidarity.
Solidarity with the QUB3! Drop the charges now!
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 305 April/May 2025
