Those involved in the encampment which was present on campus at the end of last year were invited to showcase artefacts alongside the 'All Shall be Afforded Dignity’ exhibition. The exhibition has been curated in remembrance of the South African apartheid and features the work of South African artist Norman Kaplan.
The protests, which were organised by Newcastle Apartheid Off Campus, were designed to protest supposed ‘hypocrisy of the university’, as described by a protestor present on Thursday. This comes after the ‘All Shall be Afforded Dignity’ travelling exhibition arrived in the Ex-Libris Gallery on Campus.
The protestors started with a ‘study-in’ in the Hatton Gallery at 1pm where they stuck posters, with messages including ‘END APARTHEID, NOT LIVES’, to the windows. They later announced an ‘emergency rally’ outside the gallery which began at 6pm.
When asked about whether they were optimistic regarding negotiations with the university over Newcastle AOC’s demands, one protestor told The Courier “No I’m not too optimistic, however, I know how much they want us to go away”.
This protest comes in the wake of the group soft picketing the careers fair on campus a week earlier. The Courier was told that this was because invitations were sent to several companies that the group took issue with, alongside the Royal Airforce and Northumbria Police.
The ‘All Shall be Afforded Dignity’ exhibition will be present in the Ex-Libris Gallery until the 31st of October, after which it will travel to London’s Swiss Cottage Library Gallery.
