Statement on incident at Strand

Update - 5 March 2016

"We are mindful of concerns raised around this incident and would like to reassure our staff and students that the safety and security of our campuses is of the utmost importance.

The incident is now being investigated by the police, following the arrests made yesterday, and our CCTV footage will be provided as evidence as part of this process. We will continue to support the police in their investigation, which will take precedence over our own proceedings.

However, we will also be reviewing the incident, including the CCTV evidence, to establish precisely what happened and further improve student safety on campus."

Statement regarding incident on Strand campus on 4 March 2016

“We were very concerned to learn of an extremely unpleasant incident involving some of our female Muslim students outside the Strand campus this afternoon.

We have established that, at approximately 1pm, the security control room was notified that two male members of the public were behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards a group of female Muslim students and a separate group of Animal Rights protestors.  The Muslim students were handing out Islamic literature from a stall outside the main entrance of the Strand Building.

Two security managers and a senior member of staff arrived on the scene and positioned themselves between both parties and attempted to defuse the situation. The two men were asked to leave the area but they refused. The police were called by security at 1.10pm and arrived at 1.50pm.

In the meantime, at approximately 1.35pm, the two men walked away and were followed by a member of the security team. A police unit was despatched and the two men were arrested under Section 4 of Public Order Act – using racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour. King’s has made CCTV recordings of the incident available for the police.”

Email from President & Principal Professor Edward Byrne AC to students on 4 March 2016

Dear students,

I was very concerned to learn of an extremely unpleasant incident that took place today which involved some of our female Muslim students outside the Strand campus. 

Two men were behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards a group of female Muslim students and a separate group of Animal Rights protestors. The students were simply handing out Islamic literature from a stall outside the main entrance of the Strand Building.

Two security managers and a senior member of staff arrived, attempting to defuse the situation, by positioning themselves between both parties. The two men were asked to leave the area but they refused so security called the police.

The two men were later arrested under Section 4 of the Public Order Act – using racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind us all at King’s of the need to look after one another and to show tolerance. I would also re-iterate that we should all report any anti-social behaviour that we either witness or hear about. We all need to be vigilant to make sure that we all feel safe when on campus.

We will also review this incident to see whether there is more that we can do to ensure that all our spaces at King’s are safe for all of our students.

Professor Edward Byrne AC
President & Principal