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Angry students rallied to tear down ‘lockdown’ fences placed around college hallways without warning on the first night of the nation’s lockdown.
Hundreds of students protested Thursday night at Manchester’s Fallowfield campus, including at Owens Park and Unsworth Park, saying the move made them feel like ‘prisoners’.
The university said the barriers were erected as a ‘security measure’ to ‘help prevent the mixing of homes’ and ‘keep everyone safe’, but the students said they were not informed about the fence until after it was placed.
Students who woke up to find themselves “locked in” rated the measure as “embarrassing.” They said it came at a time when many were already ‘suffering’ from mental health problems and insufficient support had been provided.
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The university later issued an apology saying they were not intended to cause “concern or distress” and that the fences would be removed on Friday.
The videos showed singing students protesting with flares and signs, before a group broke down the barriers and caused the crowd to cheer in triumph.
First-year math student Joe Hindley, 19, said: “We feel really frustrated. It feels like a kick in the balls. There is no benefit that we can see in their being awake.
“They said something about increasing our security, but from what we can see it’s a complete waste of money.”
One student, who was surprised to find the fence while walking through campus, posted a video on Twitter telling the university that they had committed a ‘shameful act’.
She wrote: ‘How do you think this is acceptable to put fences around our campus, our house where we should feel safe and secure?’
The university responded on Twitter saying that all students should have received an email informing them of the move.
The student replied: ‘None of us have received an email. Communication from you is extremely poor.
“Putting up fences that make us feel like prisoners without an attempt at prior communication will only create undue stress on residents who are already suffering.”
Fences were placed around the exterior of the campus, with security checks at the entrance and between the blocks.
They did not prevent students from entering or leaving campus, but they did block the passage between the different blocks of hallways.
Politics and sociology freshman Ben McGowan, 18, said the students had reached ‘boiling point’ and that he was disappointed in the way the university had handled the pandemic.
He said the protest was the result of an accumulation of frustration accumulated since they arrived in September, with students subjected to lockdowns and restrictions, with fines for some who broke the rules.
“I think there was a boiling point when they put up those fences,” he said. “It was a final breaking point for most of the students.”
McGowan said he was not impressed with the apology and that it was “too late,” adding: “It showed how badly thought I was.”
In an email received by students shortly before 8:30 pm on Thursday, the rector and rector of the university apologized for causing “concern and anguish” by erecting the fences.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell said: ‘This was not our intention, in fact quite the contrary.
‘The fence was intended as a response to a number of concerns received over the past weeks from staff and students about safety; particularly on access by non-residents.
“It was never intended to prevent you or other residents of our hallways from entering or leaving the site.”
He added that the fences would be removed on Friday and that alternative measures “including additional security patrols” would be introduced instead.
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