New evidence shows how UK student protests about Gaza were handled by police and universities
Camping, chaos, and confrontation.
A wave of pro-Palestinian student protest engulfed UK universities last year when thousands protested against the war in Gaza. Most started out peacefully on encampments with students pitching tents on university greens.
Now new evidence, uncovered by Sky News and Liberty Investigates, has shed some light on how some of those protests were policed.
We’ve seen instances of universities reporting protesters to police, starting dozens of disciplinaries, and in some instances we found universities collaborating with private surveillance firms.
What data tells us about handling of protests
Through Freedom of Information requests to more than 150 UK universities by Liberty Investigates, shared with Sky News, we found that at least 40 universities discussed Gaza protest activity with police forces or private intelligence organisations. Thirty-six universities had direct communication with the police.
Thirteen universities also discussed protests at meetings with police, including the University of London, Cambridge, and Manchester. Twenty-eight universities launched investigations against as many as 113 students, and staff were investigated for possible disciplinary breaches linked to their pro-Palestinian activism.
More than 20 universities also disclosed emails with a professional body for campus security, and correspondence appears to show collaboration between campus security departments and police to monitor student protesters, some even using intelligence from private security firms.
Though this is currently the clearest public picture of the scale of protest activity during that time, 47 universities did not provide the information requested. Most universities refused to specify the reasons and outcomes of the disciplinary investigations against students and staff, citing confidentiality issues.
Antisemitism on campus
The Community Security Trust, a charity that protects British Jews from terrorism and antisemitism, says it would be concerned if the number of student disciplinaries had not risen alongside the uptick of student protests and that otherwise, it would worry universities weren’t responding properly to anti-Jewish hatred.
Suffian, head of the Leeds University Palestinian Society
Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, said it has seen a rise in the number of antisemitic incidents on student campuses since the 7 October Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in 2023. The Community Security Trust says these incidents have gone up fivefold compared to the previous academic year.
David-Lior Banoun Rappaz, an undergraduate student at LSE, says: “There have definitely been a lot of antisemitic incidents on campus. It’s about being in the minority and having the other group being extremely loud about it.”
The rise in antisemitism has also concerned Dov Forman, author, activist and an undergraduate at a London university.
“University is a place where you should develop your opinions, where there should be freedom of speech, but that has to be within the confines of the law, and that can’t be at the expense of Jewish students like myself, who at times feel like we’re being dehumanised and even criticised on campus.”
Dov Forman, an undergraduate at a London university
Universities UK acts as the collective voice of 141 universities in the UK and insists it is always trying to balance the tension between freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
The body also defends the right to police protests and says it is legitimate for universities to liaise with the police, adding that this happens only “occasionally” and where action is taken it has to be proportionate.
Universities UK vice president Malcolm Press
Students feel unsafe after Newcastle incident
For some pro-Palestinian student activists at Newcastle, one incident stands out to them, they say, for police using “heavy-handed tactics” to break up a protest.
On 29 May last year, a rally that was described as non-violent by academics at the university quickly descended into chaos with officers intercepting protesters with batons.
From footage obtained for our investigation from protesters who were there, more than 40 officers including dog handlers are seen attending a building being occupied by students. Dozens of officers were earlier seen pushing and struggling with crowds of agitated protesters outside the entrance, before drawing their batons as the police line collapsed and skirmishes broke out.
Footage taken outside a different entrance to the university’s Armstrong building shows police carrying and dragging limp protesters out of a building by their limbs. You can make out one student collapsing – who we found out was later taken to hospital by paramedics after having a fit.
One student, Ivy*, has photos of bruising on her arm – which she says were caused by being grabbed by an officer.
She says “it was really, really overwhelming” and “it took a long time to feel okay afterwards”.
Another, Hana*, a medical student volunteering to provide first aid at the protest, shared a medical letter describing her knee injury after she was trampled by the crowd. She says “as a visibly Muslim woman, being on campus at the time, even being in Newcastle, was just terrifying”.
The student protesters we spoke to all said they no longer feel safe on campus.
Anonymous Newcastle student
Since the summer, academics have been calling for the university’s leadership to explain the handling of the incident.
The university maintains there were “legitimate concerns for public safety” and explained that is why they contacted the police.
Anonymous Newcastle academic
Newcastle University said: “Where protest activity goes beyond the bounds of lawful protest, we reserve the right to seek assistance from the police to ensure the safety of everyone in our community. All complaints to the University regarding staff and students have been investigated in line with our relevant policies.”
In a statement, a Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Police attended the scene to engage with all parties involved, with the safety of everyone in attendance including the protesters, members of the public and officers paramount.
“While the activity mainly passed without incident, a number of protesters outside the building refused to comply with police instruction and seemed intent on gaining entry. The right to a lawful protest is a key part of any democracy, which the police uphold. However, we will not accept people using them as a means to commit crime.”
‘We have a right to speak out’
Suffian, a Leeds University student who is head of the Palestinian Society, feels that free speech on this issue is being restricted.
He was under a two-month investigation for “engaging in unauthorised protests and being a member of the encampment”.
Suffian says he has a right to speak out
The 21-year-old said he felt the university was using its disciplinary process to prevent students from taking part in protests.
He says: “There is no right way to protest… no protest should be authorised.
“We have a right as people to speak out about it. No child should be a child of war.”
As part of the disciplinary, he says he attended a meeting where he was shown footage of himself entering a building and leading chants.
He was then issued a “formal warning”.
Since filming with him his investigation has concluded and the university says it will not be taking any further action.
A protest at the University of Leeds last year
A spokesperson for the University of Leeds said: “The right to lawful protest must be carefully balanced between the rights of protesters to assert their views on the one hand and the rights of others to go about their business safely, unimpeded, and free from intimidation and harassment.
“The university has a clearly communicated student code and guidance on protests. Where students engage in misconduct, as outlined in our regulations, they may become subject to disciplinary action.”
* Not their actual names
UK
Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana
Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.
Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.
It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.
Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.
“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.
She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.
“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.
“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’
“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”
Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.
Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.
Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.
Read more from Sky News:
Suspect accused of Derby bank murder appears in court
Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’
Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.
It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.
According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.
Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help
Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.
In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.
“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.
“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS
In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.
“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.
“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.
“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”
Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS
Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.
“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”
Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.
“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS
“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”
Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.
Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.
Bleeding in Kerry’s eye
“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.
“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”
The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.
Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.
“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.
“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”
Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.
He will be sentenced in July.
If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.
The National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Respect, the helpline for male domestic abuse victims: 0808 8010327
Galop, the LGBT+ anti-violence charity: 0800 999 5428
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.
The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS
The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.
The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the trial.
Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.
The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.
Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’
Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.
As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.
Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA
An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
Voice notes played in court
The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.
In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”
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Sycamore Gap seeds saved
Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.
The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.
From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.
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Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial
‘Mindless acts of violence’
Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.
Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.
She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.
‘Enormity of the loss’
Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.
“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”
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Moment Sycamore Gap tree cut down
Read more from the trial:
Two men went on ‘moronic mission’ to fell Sycamore Gap tree
Man told police he was being ‘framed’ over tree felling
Defendant says friend wanted to cut down world’s ‘most famous tree’
Jurors played voicenotes in Sycamore Gap tree trial
The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.
Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.
The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.
Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.
The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.
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