Around three hundred Justice for Palestine Society protesters have occupied the University of Edinburgh Library at around 3:00pm on Friday afternoon.
Protesters have occupied the main library lobby, hanging banners from the first floor mezzanine, and speaking from the first floor stairway, calling for the University of Edinburgh to divest from Israel.
The protest began in Bristo Square at around 2:00pm, before moving to the main library.
Speakers told the crowd in the lobby that: “We do not apologise for interrupting the silence of this library.”
Speakers detailed a casualty list from the conflict in Gaza, but added that: “The injury that people have sustained will not be healed by a ceasefire.
They continued: “Do not disconnect; Palestine needs us now; she needs us everywhere. It’s either our existence or our extermination.
“We will not stand for the university’s complicity in genocide; our tuition money going to Israel and killing our families.”
The occupation of the library comes nearly two weeks after Justice for Palestine protestors occupied Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, however this is the first time that the protest has entered the library.
Protesters highlighted their anger at the UK government’s failure to vote for a ceasefire in Gaza, tabled by the SNP last night, which lost by 293 votes to 125.
“Edinburgh University Library” by qwghlm is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.