OXFORD University has suspended a student arrested over alleged anti-Semitic chants at a pro-Palestine protest.
Psychology, physics and economics undergraduate Samuel Williams was detained by cops in the early hours of Wednesday, according to reports.
The same day as the arrest, the university suspended Williams, of Balliol College, over the chant at the mass Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration in London last Saturday, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He is alleged to have repeated: “Gaza, Gaza make us proud, put the Zios in the ground.”
The force has not confirmed Williams is the student who was arrested.
A spokesman for the force said: “Officers investigating chants filmed at a Palestine Coalition demonstration in central London on Saturday, 11 October, have made an arrest.
“A 20-year-old man was arrested at an address in Oxfordshire on Wednesday Oct 15 on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. He remains in police custody.”
A spokesman for the university said: “An Oxford University student was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday Oct 15.
“The precise basis for the arrest has not yet been disclosed to the university.
“While the university cannot comment on individual student cases, it has the power to take immediate and proportionate action including, as appropriate, suspending a student from membership of the university, whenever serious concerns are raised.
“Oxford University is unequivocal: there is no place for hatred, anti-Semitism or discrimination within our community, and we will always act to protect the safety and dignity of our students.”
Speaking through a microphone at the march, Williams is alleged to have told the crowd: “A steadfast and noble resistance in Palestine and in Gaza to look to, to be inspired by and – I don’t want to yap for too long – but a chant that we’ve been workshopping in Oxford that maybe you guys want to join in.
“It goes ‘Gaza, Gaza make us proud, put the Zios in the ground’.”
Other footage, allegedly showed Williams near the front of a group of protesters holding signs saying “Oxford University pick a side, justice or genocide”.
It is unclear if Williams, from Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, will be expelled from the university if the police investigation leads to a conviction.
Ministers are understood to have had close contact with the university following the incident which has condemned anti-Semitism in light of the incident.
