Firth Court has been occupied by students, taking the total number of occupied buildings on the University of Sheffield campus to five.
The group began their occupation at 11:30am today, while a court hearing was due to take place at the same time after each of the occupied buildings received notices of possession orders.
Members within Firth Court did not want to be named. One of them said: “We’ve managed to cause quite the disruption to the university, we’ve taken five of their biggest buildings used for the majority of teaching.
“The university has to listen to us, they’re currently in court trying to get a possession order to force us to leave, they’re bringing bailiffs in, which shows they’re rather intimidated by us and that it means they’ve noticed us, and that they don’t see any other way out besides from giving in to our demands, which they’re reluctant to do.”
Possession orders were delivered at around 4pm yesterday, while courts are supposed to give two days minimum notice, according to one student. They also claim setting up hearings and issuing possession orders can take weeks, but that in this instance it was managed within 3 days of an occupation.
The Firth Court group plans to expand through the building to increase pressure because security has felt relaxed. However, they also say occupiers have faced difficulties when dealing with university security teams while trying to reclaim their belongings that were locked in lecture theatres in other occupied buildings.
One locked room was finally opened after students ‘kicked up a fuss’ because one individual’s insulin was still inside.
A pair of students who were not associated with the occupation left biscuits for the Firth Court group and expressed their support.
One of them said: “Someone said to me that universities are starting to care about the next cohort more than the current, which is a shame because this is a fantastic university, there’s staff here that have changed my life.”
It is currently uncertain whether further occupations will occur until the result of the possession orders and hearing is known.
Forge Press have reached out to the University of Sheffield for comment but have yet to receive a response.
