ACTIVISTS at a pro-Palestine encampment at the London School of Economics (LSE) have accused security staff of groping and throttling them while they were evicted on Monday.

The university is the first in Britain to evict students from a pro-Palestine encampment. 

The camp was set up inside the Marshall Building on May 14, after the university’s Palestine Society reported that LSE had invested £89 million in 137 companies linked to the Gaza conflict, fossil fuels, arms, or nuclear weapons production.

The activists became engaged in a major legal battle, which culminated in the school being granted an interim possession order, which is generally used to evict squatters.

Anabelle, a postgraduate studying global politics at LSE, said that the camp was served an eviction notice during Eid celebrations on Sunday. 

They were given 24 hours to exit the building or risk facing criminal charges. 

The activists staged an eviction rally to show their compliance with the law, which was joined by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and activists from other camps at Queen Mary, UCL and the School of Oriental and African Studies

Some activists invited the public into the space one last time. 

But as soon as people started entering, Anabelle said they were met by a brutal response from security. 

“Immediately, multiple students were grabbed, pushed, groped, thrown, throttled by private security staff,” she said.

“There were security guards getting in people’s faces and cursing.”

She said that LSE management “must have communicated with security the level of violence they were comfortable with” and noted that it contradicts the university’s narrative that it is concerned with the safety of students at the camp.

LSE’s council is due to hold a vote on divestment on June 25.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said that the court order “shows an ethical vacuum in the decision-making of university authorities.

“But they will not stop the demands being made. The activism of this student generation is well informed, inspiring and committed.”

He said: “The struggle for university divestment from Israel will continue and will ultimately succeed because investments linked to genocide are unjustifiable and unacceptable.”

An LSE spokesperson said: “This decision was taken after exhausting all other options.

“They have now vacated and the building has been reopened to the School.”

They disputed the accusations of violence, calling them “entirely untrue”.