A group of 30 pro-life students facing a masked protest required a police escort to leave a meeting in Manchester.
According to the charity Right to Life UK, students attending the meeting on 1 March were subjected to “a torrent of verbal abuse and threats”.
Protesters hurled eggs at the windows of the building where the university’s Pro-life Society was holding its initial meeting. As students left, they walked through a tunnel of protestors chanting “shame on you.” The mob was held back by police.
A mob of 250 protestors heckled, spat and threatened society members. Some shouted “get raped” at a female first-year undergraduate.
One heavily-pregnant 22-year-old woman fearing for her safety was escorted home from the meeting in a police van. “I really thought our lives were in danger,” said the woman, giving her name as Maisie. “Leaving the building was the most terrifying part, we were surrounded people were screaming in our faces. I knew it would only take one person to push into me for me to fall and be crushed.”
She described many of the protesters as masked. Some had pursued the students, while shouting and swearing at them.
“If it wasn’t for the police and security, people would have definitely been physically hurt,” said Jacob Karinatan, a medical student who is the treasurer of Manchester Pro-Life Society.
More than 15,000 people signed a petition in January protesting against the creation of the society. Some female students said the group’s existence made them fear for their safety. Initially, no women belonged to the new society’s leadership team but two female students later joined it.
Manchester University’s students’ union said that from “a legal standpoint” it was impossible to block a society from affiliating to the union for views “contrary” to those of other students.
Students at universities including Birmingham and Glasgow have previously tried but failed on legal grounds to prevent the formation of pro-life societies.
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