what actually happened

Dear friends,

Yesterday a vibrant Stop the Cuts carnival assembled in Library Square at midday to show solidarity with the overwhelming vote for strike action by our lecturers. The turnout – 80.9% – is the highest figure the union has ever had in a ballot. Over three-quarters of staff (76%) who voted supported strike action and over four-fifths (82%) agreed to action short of a strike.

There were protests in several other universities as part of a national day of student action.

At Sussex around 80 students stormed the management building, Sussex House, through a fire exit. The Vice Chancellor’s Executive Group (VCEG) corridor was occupied.

Staff within the building were given leaflets explaining why the occupation was happening and were allowed to leave peacefully. As staff were leaving the building the head of Sussex security, Roger Morgan, stopped senior managers and some other staff, including Academic Registrar John Duffy, from exiting and herded them into an office in the VCEG corridor which was then locked. Roger Morgan and John Duffy presented this to the police as a kind of hostage situation, requesting a police escort out of the building despite the occupiers guaranteeing the safe exit of all staff inside.

16 police cars and vans were called to the university. Police were unable to enter the building as doors had been chained and barricaded by the occupiers. There was a stand off between police and students at the one fire exit kept open throughout the whole duration of the occupation.

At 4pm a demonstration in support of the occupation was called. Around 200 students attended. As some of them tried to join the occupation they were attacked by fully armoured riot police using fists and knees, batons and police dogs and waving pepper spray and electric tasers in students faces. Students left the occupation on their own terms to join the demonstration outside.

Two students who were attacked by police were subsequently arrested and released from police custody at 2am, one was released with a caution, the other charged with common assault. The allegation of assault is fabricated. One security guard fell over and then claimed to the police he was assaulted. Students saw another security guard informing the police that his colleague had not been assaulted but had tripped over.  Several other students were briefly detailed and searched.

Senior managers including Robert “Bob” Allison (pro-Vice Chancellor) and Michael Farthing, (Vice Chancellor), were eye witness to students being brutalised by riot police. Indeed, it was they who asked the police to take such action against the student body and our peaceful protest.

There is international outrage at how Sussex management chose to deal with student protests. Management put the safety of hundreds of students at serious risk. We will not allow them to get away with setting riot police and dogs on the student body. They must pay for this with their jobs.

Let’s keep the pressure up. Join future Stop the Cuts mobilisations to show management that we will not be deterred from resisting their cuts by the use of police violence.

Contact members of University Senate to let them know what really happened and condemn management’s brutal response to our peaceful protest.