Bournemouth students protest for ceasefire in Gaza

Arts University Bournemouth and Bournemouth University’s Socialist Society organised a student protest calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestine-Israel conflict.

The protest on Wednesday 15 November started outside of the Old Fire Station and proceeded to march up Holdenhurst Road towards the train station.

It then looped back down Holdenhurst and marched towards the town centre.

Here, there were some speakers and a major increase in the number of attendees at the march.

After this, there was a sit-in Protest at Bournemouth train station.

Olivia Brock, who attended the march, said: “It was a really good turnout, especially for a student-specific protest.

“To begin with, there was only five of us, and as soon as we started marching it got bigger and bigger.”

She also added to the confrontation she received from a limited amount of people.

Olivia mentioned that individuals were chanting ‘Save Israel’ but this was few and far between.

The conflict has become a point of contention for a lot of people.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) put forward a motion in the House of Commons last night to call for an immediate ceasefire.

This motion was opposed by 294 MPs, compared to 125 who voted for an immediate ceasefire.

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood voted against the ceasefire.

Olivia added: “The Green Party put forward that we’ve got so much of a community in Bournemouth that to not vote for a ceasefire is not representing the community what so ever.”

The Labour Party suffered substantial losses following this vote in Parliament.

A total of 56 of the Labour MPs went against the party’s stance on the issue.

Ten Shadow Ministers resigned in support of the immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

The protest on Wednesday was not the first in Bournemouth.

There was a previous one taking place on the 14 October.

There are more protests being planned for the rest of the year.

These will take place in the town centre every Wednesday, as well as a larger protest on Saturday 18 November at 2pm.

Additionally, the Arts University Bournemouth Film Night is showing films exclusively from Palestine or from directors with Palestinian descent.