High Court grants injunctions against Cambridge University protestors

The university successfully obtained three injunctions and a possession order against student protestors that occupied grounds at three of its colleges during the university’s exam season.

On 30 May, activists camped on Newton Lawn outside Trinity College, later moving to land at St John's College before both colleges served injunctions for their removal. Later in June a group of protestors was also evicted from the grounds of Magdalene College after the court served an injunction.

Magdalene is the fourth college in the city to face occupation by protesters since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas in 2023. In February 2024, a judge declined to order a five-year injunction prohibiting protests on the university’s grounds related to the conflict.

Last year a lengthy protest outside King’s College called on the university to sever ties with Israel over the war in Gaza and disrupted a graduation ceremony outside Senate House. The encampment was finally disbanded in August following negotiations between King’s College and the university.

In the recent injunctions, the judge held that the protests posed a risk to students who were revising for and sitting exams – many of whom were sitting with reasonable adjustments – and that the protestors carried out unauthorised protests and trespassed on university land.

Alicia Foo, a property dispute resolution expert at Pinsent Masons, who has successfully acted for a number of universities in similar protests, said the judgment highlighted the court’s willingness to uphold both the rights of landowners and protestors. “It is good to see the court appropriately balancing the rights of landowners and of protestors,” she said. “The right to peaceful protest is a key fundamental of our society, but not at the expense of the rights of landowners and not at the expense, in this scenario, of students who are sitting exams that could shape their future."

The court found that the rights of Cambridge University as the landowner – both in returning the possession of the land to its colleges and in protecting the rights of the college communities – substantially outweighed the severity of the order’s effect on the protestors’ rights under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which enshrine the rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

Injunctions were granted to prevent the protestors from establishing any more encampments on the university’s campuses and from carrying out further protests without complying with the regulations which govern protests on campus. Foo said the injunctions serve as a useful example for other landowners facing similar challenges of unauthorised protests on their property.

“Cases of this nature are becoming increasingly common and often require swift and decisive action from all impacted parties,” said Tom Foster of Pinsent Masons.

Under the injunctions, the protestors will be forbidden from entering the grounds of Trinity and St. John’s until either 30 June 2026, or after the 2026 examination period. The length of Magdalene’s injunction awaits the High Court’s approval.

Under new provisions of the suspended Higher Education (Free Speech) Act 2023, due to come into force on 1 August, free speech duty on governing bodies of all higher education providers in England and Wales will be permitted to take reasonable steps to protect lawful freedom of speech for staff, members, students and visiting speakers, including securing “academic freedom” for academic staff.

In June, the Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education in England, issued guidance to help universities “navigate” their duties and take “practicable steps to secure lawful speech” ahead of the updated legislation coming into force.