A human rights lawyer has said he will not be intimidated after an keffiyeh-clad mob burst into his talk about representing British families of Gaza hostages and started screaming abuse.
Adam Wagner KC was giving a public lecture at City St George’s, where he is Visiting Professor of Law, on Thursday when the activists barged in and chanted “settlers go home” and “war criminal”.
The group Association of Student Activism for Palestine took responsibility for the latest stunt, posting footage of the disruption on social media.
After interrupting the talk for around 10 minutes, they eventually left and Wagner was able to finish the lecture.
Student pro-Pals at City University in London just disrupted a talk by lawyers who represented the British connected hostages. I can’t believe how grotesque this is. They rant about the “Zionist hostages” and screech for the release of Palestinian terrorists. Terrifying. pic.twitter.com/Fa9Yt42TVZ
— Heidi Bachram (@HeidiBachram) October 15, 2026
Posting on LinkedIn after the incident, Wagner said he would not be intimidated by the incident.
“One or two [of the protesters] were focussed on me, screaming things like ‘war criminal’ and ‘you should be disbarred’. They shouted ‘free free Palestine’ and similar. One was screaming ‘the Zionist hostages were killed by the Zionists’. They were chanting ‘settlers settlers go back home’ (am I a settler? In Finchley? I am confused).
“They left after about 10 minutes, seemingly because they were tipped off that security were arriving. A small group in the audience also left, perhaps because they had been part of the plan. The police arrived quickly.
“I carried on and finished the lecture. The vast majority of the audience stayed.
“The purpose of this protest was not to express an opinion or have a debate, and least of all to listen to my view. It was to intimidate me, stop me doing my legal work, and try to make it impossible for people who do not share their extremist world view to give lectures and do ordinary things that people at universities do, such as exchange ideas.
“I will not be intimidated by illiberal people. If I am a threat to them because I make the simple (and unarguable) point that everyone has human rights, and that includes Israeli and British victims of terrorism, and of course Palestinians, then what can I do? This is a point I made in the lecture itself - they just proved it.
“If these are students then they have a lot to learn.
“If they think they are helping the cause of Palestinian rights, I very much doubt a single person in the room was convinced.
“Thank you to City St George’s for facilitating the lecture, and being so supportive when the interruption happened. I was escorted out by the Head of Security, but not before I finished my lecture. It really shouldn’t be this way.”
The incident marks the second time a lecture at the university has been disrupted by an anti-Israel mob storming into the room.
In October last year, Professor Michael Ben-Gad’s lecture at the London university was stormed by individuals who branded him a “terrorists” and allegedly made threats to behead him because of his Israeli nationality.
City St George’s has been approached for comment.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.