EDINBURGH University students staged a protest over the weekend highlighting their “mistreatment” during the coronavirus pandemic.  

Demonstrators gathered on Saturday, claiming that the University of Edinburgh made a “false promise” of hybrid learning and said that many students would not have taken out leases on flats if they had known most learning would be online.

Protesters say that the university’s treatment of first years has been “terrible” and that the university has “locked them in halls of residences with zero regard for their mental health and well-being.”

The action, which took place in Edinburgh’s Bristo Square, demanded better treatment and services and an “actual provision of hybrid learning.”

Those in attendance also called for a cut in fees for the online semester if the university cannot provide this. 

Organisers wrote online: “This protest is to display our anger against and disappointment in the University of Edinburgh.

“Students were misled and returned and started university only to find, the night before term started, that all or the vast majority of their lectures and contacts would be online.

“Many other universities across the UK have dealt with the pandemic better, with much more serious and compassionate measures being set in place to provide quality education and safety for students.”

The university said that students are receiving hybrid learning and that when they are asked to self-isolate they are provided with support.

Despite this, 21-year-old organiser Django Evans said that students are “hugely angry” at the situation.

He said: “The mood generally is quite sad and upset because we are all quite angry about what has happened to us, it has really taken a toll on all of us.

“We think the university should not be getting away with what they are getting away with.”

A university spokeswoman said: “We are delivering more than 95,000 hours of teaching this semester and more than 35,000 hours of these are scheduled to take place on campus.

“Our libraries and other study facilities are open, and we have created new spaces for students to meet and interact during this challenging year.

“We know that this is a year like no other, but we want to reassure our students that we are listening to them and acting on their feedback where we can.”