Students across the country stage walkout

On Tuesday, a number of UK university students took part in mass walkouts, talks and demonstrations as part of a “day of solidarity” with refugees. The students were acting in protest of the government’s mistreatment of refugees, along with migrants and international students.

The international campaign, initiated by the National Union of Students, was backed by the University and College Union, the academic workers’ union and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts.

A mock border control point was set up by students at the London School of Economics (LSE), who intended it to show their support ‘for a world without borders’. The students’ union at LSE suggested that its members spent the day carrying out charity work for organisations whose work benefits refugees.

At the Royal College of Arts (RCA), students took part in a demonstration outside the headquarters of the Daily Mail on Kensington High Street in protest of its strong anti-immigration stance. RCA student union co-president Miloslav Vorlíček said: “The Daily Mail is noted for a long history of anti-immigration headlines.”

“We hope to shine a spotlight on this paper’s activities. Who knows, we might even convince one or two of its employees to walk away from the dark side!”

Goldsmiths, University of London, incorporated the day into their refugee awareness month, hosting an exhibition on asylum seeking in the UK and a series of panel discussions featuring students from Syria and other war-torn areas of the world.

Other universities whose students took part in the day of solidarity included Reading, Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Liverpool’s student union tweeted the day before that it would “fully support, endorse and encourage a walk out from lectures”.

FELIX is not aware of any students from Imperial who missed lectures for the cause.