Rain is the biggest problem for Oxford’s Free Gaza protestors

Oxford students, like others, are protesting about Palestine, but not so much when it rains. There’s an encampment outside the Pitt Rivers museum and once the rain starts the protesters in tents disappear inside them and the others disappear indoors. But when the sun is out, they re-emerge, though not if it’s too early. Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine, a placard says.

It’s a mixed group; some of the demonstrators are Muslim, and there are enough oldies to explain the sign saying ‘Vietnam 1975 is Palestine now’. Just over half are women. Quite a few of the tents have LGBT flags; and there’s one placard that says, ‘Queers Support Palestine; don’t use us as an excuse not to support Palestine’. A couple of days ago, there was a Jewish student, who was chatting to friends.

There’s also a sign up saying ‘please tread carefully.