STUDENTS, staff and community members at the University of Manchester have staged a campus protest against what they call the institution’s complicity in the Gaza genocide.

Demonstrators, organised by the Youth Front For Palestine (YFFP) and Manchester Leftist Action, marched on the university’s National Graphene Institute building on Wednesday to demand transparency on the research centre’s partnerships with the Israeli arms industry.

The organisers said they had been met by a heavy police presence.

A 2018 report by student researchers revealed that the Graphene Institute had a £60 million partnership with two companies, Versarien and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Nanene, a material developed by Manchester researchers, has been used by IAI to build fighter aircraft, drones, missiles and other military systems used by Israeli forces against Palestinians, according to the report.

Organisers of the protest said that the university had failed to answer demands for an end to its partnership with the companies.

YFFP member Ghassan, who did not wish to give his last name, said: “There is a genocide going in Gaza. People are dying by the thousands and the university has blood on its hands.

“We will not stop until graphene is being used for improving lives, not taking them.”

A University of Manchester spokesperson denied that the institution has graphene collaborations with IAI, adding that Nanene is a proprietary material which does not belong to it.

“The university gives careful consideration to its research collaborations and follows all government legislation and guidance alongside our own robust partnership process,” they said.