University of Birmingham targeting two students over their support for Palestine

On Tuesday 28 January, Antonia Listrat, final year International Law and Globalisation student at the University of Birmingham (UoB), went to what she thought was a disciplinary hearing, only to be told it was a fact-finding meeting instead.

University of Birmingham: anti-Palestinian racism?

“They didn’t want to disclose any evidence and, at first, refused to tell me why I was being accused of threatening behaviour and offensive language. They finally told me it was because I was clapping, stomping, and chanting ‘STOP KILLING BABIES’ at a protest. The Lead Investigator of the case, who is part of the Student Conduct Team, told me some staff had said they found the protest very distressing. They played me a video of the chanting, which was taken by security at the time,” says Listrat.

This protest last May took place outside the Investment Committee meeting, and called for the University of Birmingham to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. At Tuesday’s meeting, the investigator not only asked Listrat if she had taken other people in the surrounding area of the protest into consideration but also told her it was her chanting that was offensive and threatening.

This really shocked her.

“I had to take a pause, as I started shaking. I thought I heard wrongly, so I said, ‘That sounds to me like anti-Palestinian racism’, and she said ‘No, because you didn’t chant STOP KILLING PALESTINIAN BABIES!’ I was wearing a keffiyeh at the time, so I said that should have been obvious,” she says.

But the UoB is not alone in clamping down on campus dissent.

Universities: clamping down on dissent

According to Tasnima Uddin, UK Advocacy and Communication Officer at the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), there has been a concerning trend of repression targeting pro-Palestinian speech across universities in the UK and Europe over the past year:

Instead of upholding their obligations to protect academic freedom, many universities appear to be complicit in criminalizing such speech – at times even aligning with counterterrorism narratives. This convergence between university leaders and state authorities, whether through direct intervention or ideological alignment, has created a chilling effect on students and staff advocating for Palestinian rights.

The disproportionate deployment of counterterrorism laws and disciplinary actions against peaceful protesters signals an alarming erosion of freedom of speech within academic spaces. Universities are now increasingly operating as repressive arms of the state.

Listrat says there has been confusion over a number of things, and claims her original disciplinary letter from last October was for alleged participation in ‘unauthorised’ protest, while the second one, which arrived two months later, was for threatening behaviour and offensive language with no mention of ‘unauthorised’ protest.

“The investigator has now told me this was nothing to do with my right to protest, but everything to do with my behaviour at the protest. I was told my right to protest hasn’t been taken away from me. I think they know they are in the wrong” she argues.

Another disciplinary being taken against a second UoB student, Mariyah Ali, has already taken more than seven months. Listrat does not have this amount of time left at the university, so her graduation is uncertain. No timeline has been given, but the university claims it will treat the case as a matter of emergency.

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