Art Workers for Palestine Scotland and other groups will occupy the charity’s public courtyard on Saturday, 24 January, to read, sing, exchange literature, and raise money for Palestinian charities.
In June 2025, a previous occupation of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) ended prematurely after staff called the police on the activists.
The demonstrations have been sparked by the CCA board’s refusal to adopt a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy or to endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).
After the June incident, the CCA, which is described as a “not-for-profit, multi-purpose, centre for contemporary art and culture” closed for two months.
Prior to reopening in August, the organisation apologised for the incident, noting: “we sincerely regret the outcome of our decisions on 24 June and that an individual was injured”.
In a statement posted to Instagram, Art Workers for Palestine Scotland said members would not rest until the CCA agreed to a cultural boycott of Israel.
They said: “This is about ending months, years, of crisis. We are putting pressure on the organisation and its funder Creative Scotland to say they can’t ignore the community any longer. We demand that the board recruits new trustees from the community and then steps aside.
“Our demand is simple: CCA: Boycott Israel We will not rest until this demand, which has the overwhelming backing of the community, CCA’s staff and partner orgs, is met.”
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The statement added: “This will be a space for the pro-Palestine community in Glasgow to meet and organise every Saturday for the coming weeks and months, building and strengthening our movement across our city.”
In a subsequent post, the group said: “We ask the board to confirm in a public statement that no private security or police will be called-on by anyone at the CCA during our Liberated Zone.
“We warmly welcome, in solidarity, CCA workers, 95% of whom called upon the CCA to boycott Israel, to join our activities, our protest, and fight together to transform CCA.”
