Our Story

On May 13th 2024, a group of KCL students launched the encampment. We decided KCL complicity in genocide MUST END.

NOT IN OUR NAME, NOT WITH OUR TUITION FEES

The Encampment

  • 13th May 2024

    Camp Launch

    13th May 2024. Day One.

    The first day of our encampment marked the beginning of our movement as KCL Stands 4 Justice. This was the day the KCL community came together and stood for justice for the Palestinians.

  • Inter-Uni Rally

    23rd May. Day 11.

    University encampment groups from across London came together, connected and made our demands clear. And made it clear to The University of London that we are united in this cause.

  • First Management Meeting

    06 June. Day 25.

    Management decided, after 25 days of our encampment, to engage and meet with KCL S4J and discuss our demands. However, the meeting offered was one hour and proved an insufficient timeframe to discuss our demands due to the extent of KCL's complicity.

  • Guys Campus Open Day

    09 June. Day 28.

    After an insufficient response from management, we escalated at Guys Campus Open Day. We wanted to make sure that prospective students didn't forget that while they were touring their potential new university, every university in Gaza is destroyed.

  • Alumni Awards

    11 June. Day 30.

    We disrupted a KCL Alumni Awards event which is used to secure alumni funding for King’s, where the Vice-Chancellor Shitij Kapur was present.

    One of the students managed to get inside the event to speak to attendees and highlight KCL’s funding of the current genocide in Gaza.

  • Strand Campus Open Day

    22 June. Day 41.

    KCL demanded we took down our tents for the duration of the Open Day.

    We made our presence known and made it clear that our protesting of complicity in genocide will not be “paused” based on their timetable!

  • Gaza Scholars Visit The Encampment

    28 June. Day 47.

    The day the Gazan Scholars visited our encampment after a panel discussion is the day our Pledge demand transformed.

    We took the framework the emergency committee from Gaza gave and presented this as our demand to management. This change was necessary would mean, if the demand is met, hundreds of more Palestinians could benefit.

  • Eviction

    16 July. Day 65.

    After 65 days of our encampment, we received an eviction notice from KCL ordering us to decamp before 5PM on 19th July.

    KCL management claimed that although they support students' right to protest, they could not support an "occupation" of its premises.

  • Decamp

    19 July. Day 68.

    We decided that, after 68 days of our encampment, we would comply with the university's demand and we would decamp after threats of non-academic misconduct and possession orders.

    However, this was not the end...

Voices Of The Encampment

“I became more emotionally involved because it was no longer just me - it was on behalf of everyone around me. I needed to put everything I could into this, to come close to deserving the gratitude people showed us.”

“I felt proud that my university was doing something, and I was proud to partake. Finally, I was surrounded by people who actually care about everything, rather than the frustrating passivity of others.”

“The camp genuinely had nothing to do with us—it was part of such a bigger picture. Yes, there were frustrations, but at the end of the day, everyone was there for one reason, for the sole purpose of standing up for justice.”

“In the beginning, I felt angry that it was ending and that we didn’t achieve all our goals. But then I realized, the encampment is just a physical space. The message lives on, and we can still spread it through other means.”