Response to Security Violence

Yesterday, at approximately 7:20pm, five students attempted to enter The Great Hall to exercise their legal right to protest on university campus grounds. In response, they were met with immediate and excessive physical force by KCL security personnel. Instead of verbal refusal, security staff used physical means to prevent entry, including shoving, pulling on clothing (including strangling by pulling scarves), elbowing, and forcibly closing the door on students. As a result, many students were left trapped between the double doors and assaulted by security members, with several students sustaining visible injuries.

Additionally, we received direct threats of physical violence from the Head of Security, who told one of our student, “You are finished” and “I am going to deal with you tomorrow.” There statements not only constitute threats, but they also indicate a personal vendetta against the student in question - who was isolated from the rest of the group. Both these threats and the use of violence by security demonstrate unprofessional conduct at best, and criminal conduct at worst.

Ultimately, we feel that the decision to assault and physically push against the students, with excessive force, is one which directly contradicts the negotiations which have already begun on the demand to safeguard the students engaging with protesting. At our encampment, we do not tolerate any form of physical violence, a standard which was disappointingly not upheld by the university staff today. This is a clear violation of our human rights and our right to protest.

You now need to take action as a university to rectify this, ensuring sufficient safeguarding and issuing a formal apology from the main individuals involved, along with a commitment to prevent such incidents from happening again. Those found responsible for the excessive use of force must be held accountable.