Anti-fossil fuel tree huggers are all riled up over Oxford University’s decision to defer endowment investment decisions.

Karl Mathiesen reports at The Guardian:

Students occupy Oxford university in fossil fuel divestment protest

Students occupied an administrative building at Oxford university on Monday in protest at the university’s decision to defer a decision on whether to dump its shares in fossil fuels.

Around 15 student activists peacefully occupied the Clarendon Building and unveiled a banner. One activist told the Guardian that two police vans and two squad cars arrived at the university. “There’s lots of police around. They’ve put two security guards inside here with us,” she said.

No attempt was made to remove the protesters and the security staff made no attempt to block the protesters from entering the building just as it closed for the day. Despite their stated intention to stay the night, the activists left the building at around 8pm.

John Clements, who was Oxford’s director of finance until 2004, joined the sit in. He said: “We are bitterly disappointed about the university’s failure to come to a decision. Oxford should be leading the move away from investment in all world-destroying fossil fuel companies to more sustainable forms of energy.”

The protest was prompted by the university saying it needed to give thorough consideration to a campaign asking it to divest from fossil fuels.

A student union resolution in October called on the council to drop its shares in coal and tar sands companies and shift its investments towards low-carbon industries.