Student protesters occupying a building at the University of Manchester were forcibly removed by court bailiffs this morning (Wednesday).
Students in the 'UoM Rent Strike' group have been occupying the Simon building on Oxford Road since February 13 as part of an ongoing protest over rent costs and living conditions in university-owned accommodation.
In the week prior to that, they took over a further three buildings on the campus before vacating them, and this week they also staged a 'sit-in' at the John Owens building and protested outside the Board of Governors.
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They are demanding 30 percent rent cut backdated to October, a cap on rent for the next three years, for the university to aim to provide student halls that meet the NUS definition of 'affordable' and for no disciplinary action to be taken against strikers.
Last week university bosses began action to remove the occupiers from the Simon building, issuing court papers. They say the action was illegal and was causing disruption to other students and staff.
On Monday, the High Court granted a possession order for the whole of the university's South Campus with notice being served on the occupiers.
However, the group said on social media that they had 'no intention to leave the occupied Simon building until forced to by bailiffs'
Officers of the court arrived early on Wednesday morning to forcibly remove them. The group said the bailiffs 'arrived with no warning' at around 5.20am and after 'forcing entry through the door' they 'expected the roughly 20 current occupiers to rapidly clear their belongings.'
'Occupiers refused to leave of their own accord, so bailiffs forcefully dragged and carried them out the building' they said.
In a statement issued afterward, the group said: "The University has made it clear that they would rather drag their students out of a building than listen to our concerns.
"The cost of living crisis isn’t going anywhere and neither are we. Occupations are only one of many tactics, and this eviction will not slow down our campaign one bit.”
The group, who claim to have 'widespread support', today shared a statement of solidarity whose signatories they say include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. It calls on the univesity to 'listen to the concerns of students and open negotiations with students engaged in the rent strike and occupations.'
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “This morning officers of the High Court attended the Simon Building to enforce a court order, following a small group of students who had been illegally occupying rooms there since 13 February 2023.
“This action follows multiple requests to those occupying the building to leave, and court hearing papers being served on the occupiers on 15 March 2023. The Court granted the University a possession order on Monday, and copies of the order were served to the occupiers.
“We very much regret having to do this, but the situation has been going on for a significant amount of time and has caused ongoing disruption to students and the people who work in the building.”
The Rent Strike group claim that in January over 350 students at the university announced that they were withholding rent, which they say amounted to £500,000, in protest at bosses increasing the 'already sky-high rent by up to £450 for the 2022 academic year.'
In a statement published on the univeristy website last month, Patrick Hackett, Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer (RSCOO) said: "A small number of students are withholding rent from us, but the profile of rent payments in January 2023 remains wholly in line with those in previous periods.
"We are continuing to collect outstanding payments as normal, with the vast majority of our students having paid."
He said the university 'absolutely recognise that the shortage in supply of housing and particularly student accommodation is a national issue, and one which is affecting the whole of Greater Manchester.'
However, he said: "We offer a wide variety of accommodation types, and our costs are very competitive both in the city and across our university peer group.
"We recognise the need to continually invest and there is ongoing investment in residences to update and modernise facilities as they age. Around £25m has been invested in refurbishments at Hulme Hall in the past 5 years, we are beginning a £20m programme of refurbishment work in Dalton Ellis and Oak House this summer and, have spent £90m on building Unsworth Park.
"Uttley House also saw £1.5m of refurbishment work to provide accommodation, a café and a study hub. We’re also working on a major investment and development strategy, to accelerate the planned modernisation of our student accommodation."
Read more of today's top stories here.
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