Sussex occupiers storm second university site

Between 800 and 1,000 demonstrators marched through the Brighton campus to mark three weeks since the occupation of the university's Bramber House conference centre began.

An estimated 200 then occupied the medical school's Michael Chowen lecture theatre.

The campaign has demanded an end to plans to tender out 235 non-teaching positions - a tenth of the university's workforce.

The students said in a statement that their latest occupation was a temporary "warning shot," but added that the movement as a whole wasn't going to go away.

"We are the students and staff who make this university, and we will not tolerate the parasites that feed off us.

"In place of their rule, we create space to imagine alternatives - a university where we hold the power, and need never fear attacks on our jobs and our education," it read.

The march came on the day registrar John Duffy dismissed the campaign in the Times Higher Education supplement.

"Not to underplay the strength of feeling by any means, but just … because people contact the media doesn't mean they speak for everybody on the campus," he said.

However student organiser "Kipp" told the Morning Star the day's turnout had proved that Mr Duffy was out of touch.

"It's a community that's breaking down, and people feel that. The guy who cleaned my flat, we knew him. He wasn't there as a drone, he wasn't there as a machine.

"We've had overwhelming support, we're going to keep up the pressure," she said.