In early September, as new and returning students stepped foot onto the N11 entrance of the Belfield Campus, they were greeted by the sight of waving flags, anchored tents, and in big bold letters, a message: “Break the academic chains of zionism”. More than a year since the previous encampment’s divisive conclusion, protesters have regrouped outside campus premises. Their concern this time is to halt the university’s involvement in the EU-funded CATALOOP consortium.
This is an international partnership that includes Israel’s Technion and Ben-Gurion universities, both of which are deeply complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. The encampment has faced significant pushback from the university management and various levels of its bureaucracy. Members of Break the Academic Chains of Zionism (BACZ) have met resistance from members of UCD Estate Services, campus security, and even the Gardaí.
Technion, Ben-Gurion and the EU’s Horizon Programme
To understand the BACZ encampment, it is essential to recognise their primary demand: UCD’s withdrawal from the CATALOOP consortium. The Horizon programme is the EU’s flagship funding programme for research and innovation. It claims to facilitate collaboration among nations and research institutions, carrying funding worth €93.5 billion. CATALOOP is an AI research project under the Horizon programme, comprising seven universities. Israel’s Technion and Ben-Gurion universities are both participants in the project, along with European institutions such as UCD. The Israeli universities’ connection to the Palestinian genocide is not undisclosed. It is known that Technion has contributed to the creation of the Iron Dome, and Ben-Gurion University is recognised for its cooperation with Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) logistics and cyber defence, for instance. The effect of their contributions to Israeli militarism, and therefore to the loss of Palestinian life, is evident. As such, UCD’s participation within the CATALOOP consortium makes it effectively complicit in genocide.
Contrary to other activist groups, BACZ’s demands are direct and pragmatic. Their primary concern is ending UCD’s complicity in genocide by peacefully forcing their withdrawal from CATALOOP.
Two Encampments
On June 8 2024, an update was posted to the official UCD website with the title “Agreement reached to end encampment”. It detailed the decisions reached by the Student Union (SU), the UCD branches of Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Academics for Palestine (AfP), and UCD management. Primarily, the revision and divestment of ongoing Israeli suppliers of goods to UCD, and the allocation of 12 scholarships for Palestinian refugees. As a result of the agreement, the May encampment ended along with “associated protests on the Belfield campus”. Since then, on-campus activism for Palestine has been scarce.
From September 7, 2025, the BACZ encampment has sought to rectify what they perceive to be the complacency of the student activist organisations involved in the first encampment. Since its inception, the encampment has been under 24-hour security surveillance.
In an interview for The College Tribune, members claimed they were subject to soft violence, such as being purposefully startled while trying to sleep, or having flashlights shone inside their tents at nighttime. Nevertheless, the camp has only continued to grow in size and numbers.
Photo: Maya Diakova
The October Walkout
On October 16th, a student walkout for Gaza took place, organised primarily by UCD BDS and the SU. It was successful in attracting a crowd of around 200 students. Speakers, including members of AfP and Sumud Flotilla participant Sarah Clancy, notably raised the issue of the university’s involvement in the CATALOOP project. However, they did not comment on the encampment only a few hundred meters away. Members of BACZ eventually arrived to express their support. Still, as the protest ended, orators made a point to direct the crowd towards the city centre to join the National protest happening at the time.
On the same day, BACZ planned to relocate the encampment from the N11 entrance to its original location near the lake, in an attempt to pressure UCD management. To achieve this, they leveraged the momentum of the protest to gain strength in numbers.
Not deterred, when the protest moved into the city centre, they set up two tents in front of O’Reilly Hall. They were quickly confronted by security who asked them to identify themselves, and who, upon their refusal, called the Gardaí. Within less than two hours, they were met by UCD Estate services, a dozen security guards, three Garda vehicles, one of which was a van, and a notice “to vacate and cease unauthorised occupation or disturbance”.
One of those involved in the encampment recounts how members of the Estate services posed threats and raised the possibility of disciplinary action, suspension, and expulsion for participating in the protest.
After a frustrated discussion between students and Estate’s representatives, the tents were dismantled, confiscated and brought back down to the N11 entrance by administrators.
The nature of UCD Estate’s response to the encampment, in contrast with the BDS protest, denotes a duality in what is perceived as tolerable activism and what is deemed violent and unlawful. Freedom of assembly and expression are protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. While Irish law permits the removal of unauthorised individuals from private property, the university’s de facto role as a public forum should be respected. UCD’s conduct in this instance suggests an intolerance for these rights, a reluctance to engage in discourse, or an unwillingness to acknowledge student concerns.
Photo: Maya Diakova
European Movement
After Israel captured the Flotilla vessels, Italian Trade Unions mobilised 400,000 people (according to the authorities) in a 24-hour general strike. Unofficial sources claim that 1 million participants attended.
Dock workers blocked major ports in Genoa, Salerno, and Venice to stop arms bound for Israel. Some schools and universities also shut down. The Italian movement was among the largest, yet it was joined by counterparts worldwide, including Spain, France, and Greece, among others.
Such large-scale protests were not seen in Ireland. Still, the Gaza marches on October 3 and 4 reached the port. The Gardaí used pepper-spraying and force against protestors.
Yet the humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains unchanged. Trump’s problematic ceasefire has not stopped the daily murders of Palestinian civilians. American and European economic complicity with Israeli violence is unchanged, and the UCD encampment can be seen as one small instance of silencing that represents Ireland’s social-governmental divide on the issue.
By Hugo Sanchez, Contributor and Maya Diakova, Features Editor