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January 1, 1970 –
From Alternative Bristol (UK)

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The new Rent Strikers Bristol campaign has been organizing students at Bristol University against the harsh conditions that students find themselves in during the pandemic. Some students complain that the situation has them locked-down in sub-standard conditions and yet still paying full rent and unable escape the contract they signed, that didn’t envision a global pandemic in this form. The campaign has been gathering pace and announced recently;

We’ve surpassed 1100 sign ups! Tomorrow we will be physically handing our demands to the University of Bristol management and on Monday we’ll have our first meeting with management with 4 reps from the strike. It’s about time our voices were heard

The campaign also has gone to great lengths of point out that this is not about staff vs students, but both against the powers-that-be;

After communicating with numerous members of staff on accommodation properties, we wanted to make it explicitly clear: our fight is against the university, not the staff. As a diverse and inclusive university community, we must have solidarity between the staff and students and stand up together against bureaucratic oppression. No staff member must lose their job because of Covid-19, we are in this together. Stay strong Bristol students and staff!

Individual strikers also have been writing about their position;

For context, Bristol University makes over a staggering £12 million in profit from student hall rent each year. We aren’t cash cows. We deserve to get our moneys worth.

The demands of the campaign can be found here:

@BristolUni have put the lives of students and staff at risk by bringing students to halls, so we’re calling a rent strike.
These are our demands ✊ pic.twitter.com/7VT2OVqpKh

— Rent Strike Bristol (@RentStrikeBris) October 16, 2020