Originally published by The Howl
Pictures posted on Facebook have brought City University Palestinian Society’s decision to block a Howl reporter from attending an event into question.
The Palestinian Society told The Howl last week that its reporter was denied access to the society’s “Is Palestine even important?” event, which featured a guest speaker from the controversial organisation Friends of Al-Aqsa, because all spaces had been filled and the society had to “comply with University restrictions for the safety of students”.
But the Palestinian Society has posted photos from the event on its Facebook page which show several empty seats and plenty of standing space.
Professor Suzanne Franks, head of journalism at City University, said she was “very disappointed” that the Howl was excluded from the event.
She added that there did not appear to be “reasonable grounds” for the Howl reporter being denied entry as the room “obviously wasn’t full”.
City University Palestinian Society responded: “As we have mentioned before, the Palestinian society followed all due University protocol on hosting external speakers and ensured that we complied with all security measures to make the event a success and safe for all those who attended. The room capacity in which the event took place, A110, is 50.
“However, the Palestinian society was only allowed 30 students, so yes, there were several empty seats. In addition, some Palestinian society committee members were in fact standing at the back, rather than sitting down, so they did not appear in the pictures. May I also remind you that you emailed us 4 hours before the event.
“We would like to reassure you, the Palestinian society is an open society. We welcome you and students from all departments and courses. We will be holding an event on 21st November, in which you are more than welcome to attend.
“We recommend you write an article about how the Palestinian society has been subject to restrictions from the University in regards to our freedom of speech. The attempts to smear our event and reputation as a NEW society is a clear sign that the voice of Palestinian activism is being targeted on campus.”
City Students’ Union said it had no further comment on the matter, despite the new evidence provided to them.
The City Students’ Union president Olesea Matcovschi previously said: “The event received the appropriate approval through the mechanisms that City, University of London Students’ Union and City, University of London have in place to ensure freedom of speech, safety of those in attendance and its legal responsibilities are upheld.
“The society have reported to the Union that the event reached capacity and a number of people had to be turned away to ensure they didn’t exceed the maximum occupancy of the room.
“We welcome students involved in student media at City, University of London Students’ Union to attend events run by societies or the Union and would encourage them to make contact ahead of the event to reduce the risk of them not being permitted due to capacity issues.”
City, University of London has not responded to requests for comment.
Disclaimer: James Walker was the reporter turned away from the event.
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