British police said they had arrested 16 people on suspicion of aggravated trespass at the University of Oxford after pro-Palestinian protesters held a sit-in at the university vice-chancellor’s office, Reuters reports.

The Oxford Action for Palestine group (OA4P) said university authorities called police after students began their protest at administration offices.

“Officers attended Wellington Square at Oxford University, at around 8am this morning following reports that protesters had gained access to a private office within one of the buildings,” Thames Valley Police said in a statement.

“This was not a peaceful sit-in, but a violent action that included forcibly overpowering the receptionist,” the university said in a statement.

“It is clear that a faction of students and faculty claiming to represent OA4P have not been interested in dialogue in good faith,” it added.

“Let them go,” the demonstrators chanted.

“It is evident the administration would rather arrest, silence, and physically assault its own students than confront its enabling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” the group said on X.

Police said officers had taken “lawful, proportionate and necessary action in the difficult circumstances they faced”.