In a recreation of the famous antics of night climbers of previous generations - albeit for an entirely different purpose - Palestinian flags were placed on historic Cambridge buildings on Friday night.
The flags were placed on the Catholic church on Hills Road, plus two on Holy Trinity church, one on the front statue of Caius Chapel, plus a banner on one of St John's College’s turrets.
Night climbers have been active in Cambridge since the 1930s, culminating in a 1958 stunt which put a Morris Minor car on top of Senate House.
Their furtive style was established for a good reason - and university student caught night climbing was instantly sent down. Their motives were hazy, but their reasoning was probably of the “because it’s there” variety, though no doubt the engineering aspects of getting a car on a high roof in the middle of the night without being seen presented interesting logistical challenges. But none of the night climbers was acting for political motives.
Cambridge Stop The War - a broad-based coalition of anti-war activists, unions, faith groups, political parties and individuals in and around Cambridge - claimed responsibility for the action, which caused no obvious damage to any of the buildings.
The group issued a statement saying that “the placing of the flags is a way of highlighting the issues” in Gaza, adding that the loss of life in Gaza - more than 33,000 Palestinians killed in six months, 70 per cent of whom are women and children - is “galvanising support for the plight of the Palestinian people and bringing shame on those who profit from their investments in arms companies that supply Israel with the weapons that have been used to attack hospitals, homes and universities.”.
The Stop The War coalition also condemns investments with BAE and Boeing due to their links to materiel supplied to Israel, along with Trinity College’s investments in Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence company.
The group says: “Trinity College invests £61,735 in Elbit Systems, [which is] described as ‘the backbone’ of the Israeli army. Elbit manufactures the drones that that are constantly flying over Gaza. It was three successive drone strikes that recently killed seven aid workers, two of them British, bringing food to those being deliberately starved by the Israeli blockade.”
The University of Cambridge was contacted for comment.
