Court Approves Cardiff University’s Sweeping  Injunction Against Student Protests in Solidarity with Palestine  

Cardiff-UK – 13 June 2025, Sir Peter Lane, sitting in the High Court (King’s Bench Division, Cardiff) gave an oral judgment on 13 June 2025 approving the University’s sweeping injunction to restrict student protest in solidarity with Palestine. This came despite the ELSC intervening to make written submissions seeking to limit the scope of the injunction sought. 
The court granted the University the right to prohibit all protest activity on 10 sites across its campus. The injunction applies both to university property and to adjoining public highways and was granted until July 2026, meaning it will apply even to students who have not yet enrolled at Cardiff University but will begin their studies in September. 

The prohibited sites include those with direct ties to Israel’s perpetration of war crimes in Gaza, such as the Airbus Centre of Excellence. Students have protested the University’s partnership with Airbus which provides drones that Israel uses in Gaza. 
 
The University brought its application in the wake of Caerdydd Students for Palestine setting up an encampment on Horseshoe Drive, outside the University’s Main Building on 9 May. The students’ called on the University to sever all partnerships with companies and organisations that support, fund and facilitate genocide in Palestine. Upon being served notice of the application, which sought both a possession order and injunctive relief, the students vacated the site. The University subsequently withdrew its application for a possession order but continued to seek a ‘precautionary injunction’ against ‘Persons Unknown’, meaning that anyone entering the designated sites could face contempt of court sanctions if they breach the terms of the injunction.  

The Judge highlighted the University’s Code on Freedom of Speech as a means of enabling protests to continue, but the Code requires 21-days notice of any protest activity and ignores the fact that many students will not feel safe coming forward to request permission from their University in circumstances where protests on campus are regularly a disciplinary matter and can now result in contempt of court proceedings. 
 
The ELSC intervened to raise critical concerns about restriction measures that are being used ever more regularly by universities across the country. Cardiff University is the latest University to seek such an injunction, appearing to disregard its obligations to uphold freedom of speech and assembly on campus. Rather than engaging with the students’ urgent demands, Cardiff University is attempting to silence and criminalise student protest, protecting its partnerships with companies like Airbus. This reflects a growing pattern of institutional repression targeting students and staff who speak out against the UK’s facilitation of Israel’s war crimes.  

Despite this result in court, the ELSC remains committed to resisting these dangerous precedents and upholding the right to protest the genocide and in support of Palestinian liberation. 

Anna Ost, Senior Legal Officer at the ELSC, said: “It is disappointing to see yet another University seeking to impose heavy restrictions on how its students can express their views on campus. Students are taking a principled and steadfast stance against complicity in genocide and Universities need to take lessons from their example rather than rushing to court where students are not resourced to defend themselves.”