For nine months now, the University of Manchester has been a hotbed of unrest and scandals. On Monday May 10, students held another protest with the intent of expressing their anger at the university they perceive to have failed them.
The protest began outside the then-Occupied Samuel Alexander building. The building had been occupied for over 2 weeks, making it Manchester’s longest occupation since the 1970s. Students from the protest groups Nancy Out, UoM Rent Strike, and Cops off Campus amongst others had staged the occupation in response to the University’s mishandling of their pandemic response and the treatment of students this academic year. The group’s demands included a 30% rent rebate for semester two, the democratisation of Manchester’s senior leadership and an end to the police patrols around Fallowfield campus.
During the protest, the occupiers left the building after being threatened with legal action by the university, despite not having achieved any of their goals. This didn’t seem to faze them, however, because the group leapt into action by leading the crowds gathered outside the Sam Alex in a series of chants and speeches all connected by one underlying theme: Fuck UoM.
