STUDENT activists left a four-week-long occupation against education cuts with their heads held high yesterday after an injunction order was granted to University of the Arts London (UAL).

Scores of supporters assembled outside London’s High Court Rolls Building in solidarity with the 15 students named in the legal action.

University management struck a deal under which the occupiers are spared court costs and disciplinary procedures, but which bans student protests on campus.

Demonstrating outside the court, UAL student Summer Oxley said UAL bosses had acted in an “absolutely ridiculous” way.

She said it exposed UAL as “a financial institution, as a business, rather than actually caring about what their students have to say.

“They are going to crush any kind of creativity or voice that we have just to make money for themselves.”

A last-minute deal brokered between students and UAL lawyers resulted in an amnesty for occupiers and the forgiving of legal costs of over £10,000.

But despite agreeing to leave the premises in the afternoon, students were still ordered not to occupy UAL property “without the prior written consent” of management.

Third-year student Rebecca Livesey-Wright, who was named in the legal action, told the Star that leaving the occupation was “quite weird” as it had been her “home and political space” for the last month.

Being dragged into court “came as a bit of a shock.

“We expected it somewhat. You go into occupation knowing that you are probably going to face some sort of repercussion, but we didn’t expect it to come this heavy-handed and without much warning.”

Ms Livesey-Wright said she didn’t “necessarily feel betrayed. My tutors have been really supportive, really fantastic and they are the people I see as important.

“But I am shocked that an establishment would do that to its own students and threaten them with massive legal costs as well.

“I can’t imagine why an institution would choose to do that rather than actually spend money on education.”