STUDENTS at a central London university have occupied bosses’ offices in support of ongoing nationwide strike action by further education staff against attacks on pay, pensions and working conditions.

Management confirmed the main building at the Soas, University of London, campus in Bloomsbury remained closed today after students occupied the first floor on Wednesday.

Organisers, who confirmed that more than 30 students are now involved, said they wanted to express solidarity with striking University and College Union (UCU) lecturers and Unison support staff as they fight a 35 per cent pensions cut and real-terms wage falls of a fifth since 2010. 

The walkouts, which began in December when staff in 58 institutions across Britain withdrew their labour, are also highlighting growing stress and precarious unemployment in the sector.

The Soas occupiers, who claimed they have been subjected to “security violence, intimidation tactics and threats of legal action,” are also demanding that the institution, which specialises in the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, “demarketise and decolonise.”

The university should be advocating for “free and liberated education” by equalising fees for home and international students and cutting managers’ salaries to the average worker’s wages, they argued. 

The occupiers condemned the building’s ongoing closure, stressing they had wanted an “open occupation,” but bosses had decided to “block us off” and deny them access to toilets or solidarity support packages from fellow students.

Protesters, who have demanded the resignation of school director Adam Habib, are now hanging banners from windows and addressing the campus through a loudspeaker to ask for further support.

A student, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We're taking back this space to show that universities must be reappropriated to serve the communities they have historically oppressed.

“The resources in the institution must be redistributed, the space must be opened, education must be liberated.”

A Soas spokesperson said: “The occupation constitutes unlawful trespass and there are concerns that non-students may be on the premises.

“The occupiers can leave at any time and are free to access toilet facilities. If they leave, we cannot enable access again. 

“We won’t allow intimidation of staff and we won’t allow the teaching and learning experience of our students to be compromised.”

A separate solidarity occupation affecting five buildings at the University of Sheffield ended last weekend after a possession order was taken out.