2024-05-02
The Victorian Greens have said the university students currently peacefully camped out on campus in support of Palestine must be better protected by their schools and the police.
It follows reports of a Monash University encampment being invaded overnight by a group of seemingly far-right thugs.
According to the reports, they swarmed the camp, destroying infrastructure and shaking tents with young women inside.
Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey, said everyone had the right to peacefully protest, and it was disturbing if far-right groups were attempting to threaten and intimidate those doing so.
She said it was incumbent on the universities, as well as Victoria Police, to take the threat more seriously and ensure the protection of those in the encampments.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens justice spokesperson, Katherine Copsey:
“The attack on one of these peaceful university student encampments overnight is deeply disturbing.
“The threat of violence towards peaceful protesters is not okay and we must do all we can to call it out.
“The universities and the police must do a better job of protecting these peaceful protesters.”