Deadline set after cops swarm protest camp

Pro-Palestinian protesters who have defied university orders to leave a makeshift encampment at the Australian National University have been given a deadline to vacate the area by noon on Tuesday, police say.

Protesters at the Kambri Tent Encampment were woken up at 8am on Monday by more than 20 university security guards, with a heavy police presence deployed to the site to observe and monitor the situation.

Students were told they needed to leave to area due to an “unacceptable safety risk,” with Kambri lawns marked as a evacuation point.

Amid simmering tensions, about 150 protesters formed a human circle around the space, with a makeshift barricade errected around the main tent.

Police negotiators arrived at the campus shortly after midday, however officers left university grounds after about 2pm, after they handed down the deadline.

While protesters have been asked to leave Kambri lawns, they do have the option of locating to the nearby lawns on North Rd, in front of ANU’s Engineering Building.

The vacate order was issued on Monday morning by ANU’s Facilities & Services Division director Jeremy Matthew via a letter to the protesters.

It said the group had to leave the area after a “disruptive fire evacuation” on May 21 raised “serious safety concern affecting the good order on campus and in that zone”.

While Kambri Lawn, where the encampment resides, is used as an evacuation site, the uni claims efforts to identify an alternative evacuation point failed.

“The University’s Council has power over the entire control and management of the University,” the letter read.

“As such … under the delegated authority to maintain good order on campus, it is necessary to issue this order for the immediate removal of all tents and encampment structures.

He said the order includes the power to issue future “eviction notices” and “if necessary,” to order the Australian Federal Police (AFP), to “enforce compliance.”

However, students have voted to stay, despite threats they could be arrested.

“The police have come and told us we need to leave but we as a collective have decided to stay,” one student explains to the camera in a post shared by Instagram account @anu4palestinee.

“There are hundreds of people here... we will not be moved, we will be staying at Kambri.”

Previously, posts from the protester group accused ANU security of being “aggressive,” and “preventing legal observers and encampment members with personal belongings still in the camp from entering”.

However, the university maintains protesters need to be removed due to an “unacceptable safety risk”.

“ANU expects the remaining encampment participants will follow today’s direction,” the statement said.

“Failure to comply with this direction, issued to ensure safety and wellbeing, will result in disciplinary action.”

The statement also clarified that the vacate order was not a directive that prevented students from protesting.

“To be clear, as has been the case since the encampment commenced, we have not directed any of our students to stop protesting,” it read.

“They may continue to do so as long as it is respectful, peaceful and abides by our codes of conduct.”