KB-2025-000497 - [2025] EWHC 2330 (KB)

After the hearing in front of Mr Twigger KC of the Trinity and St John’s injunction applications, but shortly before judgment was handed down, namely on 21 June 2025, an encampment was set up by Cambridge for Palestine on Magdalene College Lawn, demanding that that college disclose its investments. Social media posts stated: ‘The Encampment Returns. New Liberated Zone Established. Magdalene – What are you Hiding?’ Magdalene College obtained an injunction which was served on the morning of 24 June 2025, after which the encampment ended. My understanding is that that injunction has subsequently been made final, but I have not seen either the order made, nor any judgment relating to it.

On the evening of 24 June 2025, during a rally outside Great St Mary’s Church, an encampment was set up by Cambridge for Palestine on Chestnut Tree Lawn. A report prepared by University Security records that at 22.42 on 24 June 2025 there were about 6 tents and 20 people at the site. A Cambridge for Palestine social media post from about this time states:

‘To Cambridge University: we will target each institution with ties to the occupation and genocide in Palestine. If you are complicit, expect us.’

On 25 June 2025, an Honorary Degree Ceremony took place at the Senate House. The encampment on Chestnut Tree Lawn was continuing during the ceremony, and the occupiers of the land used megaphones to project chants across Senate House Yard. There was also a protester outside Senate House Yard who covered themselves in red paint and threw objects into the yard. The occupiers were reported to have left Chestnut Tree Lawn at 18.50 on 25 June 2025.