“This was a peaceful occupation, with students allowed to enter and leave the building freely up until now.”
60 Trinity College students claim to have been locked into the campus’ Dining Hall without access to food, water or toilets.
The Take Back Trinity group said that at approximately 5pm on Wednesday, entrances to the Dining Hall were blocked by external security services.
In a release, they stated: “Security have made it clear that no food or water will be permitted in the Dining Hall. Toilet access has also been cut off.
“Students will be permitted to leave the building if they wish,” the release goes on to say. “Access to all other parts of the Dining Hall have been cut off, and students have been warned that the doors are now alarmed.”
The occupation began on 13 March, when approximately 60 students entered and secured the hall in protest of the introduction of a €450 exam resit fee.
A spokesperson for the group told JOE: “As far as the students are concerned, we’re willing to stay for as long as we can. We’re trying to work on toilet access and there’s an issue with fire escapes. So we’re in negotiations with the college on that.”
In response to the news, TCD’s press office issued their own statement, which stated: “The students are not locked into the Dining Hall.
“They can leave at any time they want, and the College is taking all steps to ensure that the students inside are safe. However, we are not letting anyone else into the building as there were concerns that large numbers of non-students had been invited into the building through an open call, and this would result in unacceptable risks for all concerned.”
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