Pro-Palestine activists targeted Trinity College with multiple actions on Thursday night (05/12), amid ongoing protest against the College’s ties to weapons being used by Israel.

Activists from Cambridge for Palestine (C4P) and Organisation of Radical Cambridge Activists (ORCA) disrupted a College evensong on Thursday evening, holding a banner displaying the words “Trinity College funds genocide” during the service.

Pro-Palestine activists also sprayed the outside of the chapel with red paint and the words “divest from genocide” on Thursday night. It is unclear which group was behind this action, which has been shared by activist network This Is Not a Drill.

This comes after Varsity revealed that Trinity has ruled out arms divestment, after reportedly telling students that it had decided to pull its investments in arms companies.

Activists have accused the College of “trying to hide away from its responsibilities”.

“We are making sure it is clear to everyone, that Trinity College’s interests were, when given the possibility to choose otherwise, to aid and abet the genocide of Palestinians,” they said.

On Wednesday, Trinity was referred to the United Nations for allegedly “aiding and abetting international crimes against Palestinians”.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) included Trinity, among other British charities, in evidence submitted to Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Albanese had called for evidence for a report into the private sector’s involvement in “the commission of international crimes connected to Israel’s unlawful occupation”.

Trinity holds investments in Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, according to Freedom of Information requests seen by Varsity. Elbit produces 85% of the drones and land equipment used by the Israeli army.

The College also holds shares in other companies that feature on the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) list, which urges individuals to cut ties with companies associated with the war in Gaza.

The activists who sprayed Trinity chapel said: “This institution, this building, will forever bear the red stain of the blood of those it participated in dehumanising and decimating.”

“We, who have not forgotten that Trinity’s hands are red with the blood of Palestinians and we, who will never forget this reality, are making Trinity’s involvement clear once more, for the world to see and for the College to know in its stones that the stain of genocide is unwashable,” they added.

Last month, students protested outside the College, accusing Trinity of “betrayal” and “complicity in genocide”.

These claims came after the College Master said that Trinity has “no interest” in divesting from arms companies, despite previous reports that the College “will be and is in the process of divesting”.

In April, activists sprayed Trinity’s chapel with red paint in a similar protest.

A spokesperson for Trinity College told Varsity: “Trinity College strongly condemns this act of vandalism and has informed the police. While the College respects the right to peaceful demonstration, it draws the line at criminal damage.”

“As with any other case of criminal damage, Trinity College will do everything it can to assist the police in their investigation,” they said.