Pro-Palestinian student activists disrupted an event held at City St George's, University of London, on Thursday featuring human rights barrister Adam Wagner K.C., who represented British hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.
The incident took place during an event titled 'Representing Hostages,' a lecture delivered by Wagner, a specialist at Doughty Street Chambers and a Visiting Professor of Law at the university who has advised on key public law and human rights cases, discussing his legal and diplomatic strategy for representing the families of ten British hostages seized during the October 7 attacks in Gaza.
During the event, protesters entered the lecture hall chanting "free, free Palestine," filming attendees, and shouting slogans. Footage circulating on social media uploaded by the groups City Action for Palestine and the Association of Student Activism for Palestine, who claimed responsibility for the disruption, showed demonstrators confronting organizers and speakers, telling attendees "shame on you" and calling for the event to be shut down.
Writing in a post on LinkedIn following the incident, Wagner described how a small group of masked individuals barged in about halfway through his presentation, screaming slogans.
Wagner wrote, “One or two were focused on me, screaming things like ‘WAR CRIMINAL’ and ‘YOU SHOULD BE DISBARRED’. They shouted ‘FREE FREE PALESTINE’ and similar. One was screaming ‘THE ZIONIST HOSTAGES WERE KILLED BY THE ZIONISTS’. They were chanting ‘SETTLERS SETTLERS GO BACK HOME’ (am I a settler? In Finchley? I am confused).”
Wagner stated that the protesters left after about ten minutes, seemingly tipped off that security was arriving, alongside a small group of audience members who also walked out. He noted that he carried on and finished the lecture while the vast majority of the audience stayed.
"The purpose of this protest was not to express an opinion or have a debate, and least of all to listen to my view," Wagner wrote. "It was to intimidate me, stop me doing my legal work, and try to make it impossible for people who do not share their extremist worldview to give lectures and do ordinary things that people at universities do, such as exchange ideas."
Wagner continued, “I will not be intimidated by illiberal people. If I am a threat to them because I make the simple (and unarguable) point that everyone has human rights, and that includes Israeli and British victims of terrorism, and of course Palestinians, then what can I do? This is a point I made in the lecture itself - they just proved it.”
“If these are students, then they have a lot to learn. If they think they are helping the cause of Palestinian rights, I very much doubt a single person in the room was convinced,” Wagner added.
Wagner expressed gratitude to City St George's for facilitating the lecture and remaining supportive during the interruption, noting he was escorted out by the Head of Security after finishing.
In a statement posted on Instagram by City Action for Palestine, organizers defended the disruption.
"City St George's platformed this event. 'Representing 'Hostages,' our response is: The only hostages are the 10,000 Palestinian hostages unlawfully detained in Zionist detention, without trial," the group wrote on Instagram.
"The only hostages are the hundreds of Lebanese men, kidnapped by the IOF from their villages in South Lebanon. City St George's would never platform a discussion on Palestinian and Lebanese suffering. City St George's prefers to support the IOF, unethical investments, and the Jewish-Zionist propaganda machine. Zionism is racism, and Zionism is not welcome and never will be welcome on our campus," City Action for Palestine.
President of UJS condemns pro-Palestinian student protest
Raphael Leon, the President of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post, “It is astounding that students protested an event about representing hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7. This intimidatory behavior, contributing to a chilling effect for Jewish and Israeli students and staff who want to participate in university life in Britain, is another example of extremist student groups positioning themselves outside of the realm of acceptable conduct.”
“The Palestinian cause should not be used to cancel out the pain of the hostages and hostage families. We would have hoped that these students would have the maturity and decency to recognize that. The chants of the protesters further demonstrate their extremism and antisemitism, shouting at Jews to 'go back home'. This achieves nothing for the peace and justice. Society, including universities, must take a stand against hatred,” Leon told the Post.
A spokesperson for City St George’s, University of London said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post, "During yesterday's public lecture delivered by Adam Wagner KC, Visiting Professor of Law at City St George's, University of London, a small number of individuals briefly disrupted the event. After a few minutes, the individuals left and all planned elements of the event, including the full lecture, Q&A and audience discussion, took place. We understand that the incident may have been unsettling for some attendees.”
"The University is committed to freedom of speech, academic freedom and the right to lawful protest, in line with our Code of Practice. These principles are fundamental to university life and to the open exchange of ideas, including on issues that can generate strongly held and differing views,” the spokesperson said.
"Academic events should be able to proceed in a way that allows speakers and audiences to listen, question and engage with different perspectives. In line with our Code of Practice, whilst disagreement and challenge are a normal part of academic debate, the actions of some should not disrupt the ability of others to participate in that discussion and debate. The University is reviewing the incident, " the spokesperson added.