Pro-Palestine protestors waiting on response from University of New England

Organised by the Armidale Friends of Palestine group, organisers said around half the protestors were students.

"Most of the other participants had strong connections to the university: there were former students, staff members and attendees who feel strongly about the university and its place in the community," they said in a statement to the Armidale Express.

"Universities remain a locus of public political debate despite recent efforts to displace them from this role. If we want our government to take real action, and we do, then forcing our universities to act is a good place to start."

Prior to Sunday's protest, the group submitted a letter to vice-chancellor Chris Moran asking the university management to sign the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) statement.

"We haven't yet received a response to our demands ... we do know that they have received our questions, though, so we are hoping for a response soon," the group said.

"It's also worth mentioning that we have been, on the whole, appreciative of the steps that [the university] took to ensure the safety and rights of students and community members on campus."

One security guard has been stood down after hostility toward the protestors, but organisers said they had made efforts to remain respectful toward other students and staff and were solely focused on outcomes rather than one isolated interaction.

"We would like to direct attention away from this hostility and towards our goals," protest organisers said.

"At the UNE, and as part of the broader student movement, we would like to focus on the demands we have made and the power of students. Universities are a thread in the fabric of civil society, and they have real political sway.

"But for them to fulfil a role in civil society, students must be empowered to take political action and express their political views.

"So, along with students across Australia, we are trying to prove to students that they can act politically, that their political stances do matter, and that their democratic rights extend beyond voting once every three years."

The group said that the University of New England and others within Australia also had a duty towards their student body and the communities "that they are embedded within".

"These duties include a willingness to defend freedom of speech alongside a commitment to the physical and emotional safety of their students.

"To quote one of our speakers: 'How can we feel safe if the university does not speak out against genocide?'."

The group said their immediate concern was halting the invasion of Gaza and the welfare of Palestinians who have endured the Israeli bombing campaign.

"We are focused on what Australians can do to influence this. This means pushing our government to begin issuing visas to Palestinians in a humane manner. It also means demanding they take diplomatic action to censure Israel, through public statements and sanctions," they said.

"We also want Israel to be held accountable to international law, particularly given the recent ICC order."

They also stand by Palestinians who are living in the West Bank, in Israel and those who have been exiled around the globe.

"We refuse to ignore the goals of the Palestinian liberation movement," the group said.

"A first step towards meeting the aspirations of this movement would be the recognition of Palestine as a state with full membership rights at the UN. We also want a concrete implementation of the right to return, a right that is internationally recognised as belonging to refugees.

"Ultimately, we believe that this would require the establishment of a single, democratic and secular state."