Glasgow University occupation briefly ended by police

A seven-week student occupation of a mothballed University of Glasgow building was temporarily brought to a close by a major police operation.

Strathclyde Police mobilised up to 80 officers, 18 police vehicles and 1 helicopter to remove 15 students from the building.

However, the students quickly returned to the building mere days after the eviction, and the occupation continues.

For several weeks prior to the raid, students had taken up residence in the former Hetherington Research Club, shuttered and unattended since its closure. The eviction operation on Tuesday 22 March saw students from the ‘Free Hetherington’ protest movement forcibly removed by Strathclyde Police and University security guards.

In the confrontation between police and protestors, one student was injured and had to be taken to the nearest hospital via ambulance.

The activists had reopened the centre as "an open, friendly, community space for staff, students and supporters" without permission after the university elected to close it last year.

The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) for Glasgow University condemned the scenes at Hetherington.

Tommy Gore, president of the SRC said: “What we saw outside the Hetherington Research Club today, with a presence of 80 officers on University-owned property is unacceptable.

“Whilst we support the University’s goal of turning the previously empty building into learning and teaching space, we cannot, in any way, see the justification for allowing such a disproportionately large amount of police at our University campus.”

Responding to allegations made regarding the measures which were taken by the police, Superintendent Nelson Telfer defended the force: “In the strongest terms, I would say allegations of police brutality are absolute nonsense”.

Patrick Harvie, a Green Party MSP from Glasgow has denounced the eviction and endorsed the occupation: “I whole-heartedly support the actions of Glasgow University students who have taken part in a peaceful occupation of the Free Hetherington," he said.

"Glasgow should be proud of its citizens who choose to take peaceful action to demand protection for our education, our health services, our libraries, and every aspect of our lives that is under threat from this new drive to privatise.”

An investigation into the events at the Hetherington on 22 March is ongoing.