Students and staff at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on Thursday morning found a camp with about 10 tents, with Palestinian flags and banners, near the university's main plaza.
GroundUp reports that the camp is in solidarity with similar movements at universities such as Wits University in Johannesburg and others in the US, where students have occupied spaces calling for financial and academic boycotts of Israel because of the Gaza war and occupation of Palestinian land.
The students set up camp on Wednesday and spent the night on campus. They displayed banners emblazoned with messages such as: "Resistance is beautiful" and "How many students need to be killed before UCT does something?"
They also laid out a long white banner down the steps of the Sarah Baartman Hall, with the names of hundreds of children and adults who have died since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
The camp was organised by the student movement UCT4Palestine to commemorate the "ongoing Nakba", meaning "catastrophe" in Arabic - the mass displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
The space is also being used for artistic and educational purposes in solidarity with students at Wits.
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Among the students' complaints is UCT's alleged financial ties with Israel, with the protesters demanding that the institution sever all said ties.
UCT4Palestine, in a statement, said:
Jamie Rosengarten from the SA Jews for a Free Palestine said the organisation was "creating a proudly decolonial zone where we will mourn what's happening right now in Gaza and Rafah".
The UCT4Palestine movement will also be collecting non-perishable food, warm clothing and blankets for distribution to poor local communities that desperately need those items.
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The protesting students have vowed to continue their action until they get a response from UCT.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said, "The University has noted an encampment set up on Upper Campus. UCT has always upheld the right by any members of the campus community to embark on peaceful and lawful protest. The executive has not been formally engaged by nor received any correspondence from the group."
