Protestors who camped out in the SOAS Director’s office for over 48 hours, following the deportation of SOAS cleaning staff, vacated the rooms on Wednesday after a revised set of demands was been agreed upon.

On Tuesday the occupiers had been served with an injunction but police were not asked to remove the group forcibly. Instead, tense negotiations, mediated by members of the elected Students Union, took place between protestors and management.

Just after midday on Wednesday a joint statement, signed by SOAS Director Professor Paul Webley and Student Union Co-President Nizam Uddin, was released. It listed five actions the School would take in response to Friday’s immigration raid, when nine cleaners were detained, which had sparked the protest.

SOAS agree to write to the Home Secretary “within 12 hours of the end of the protest, requesting that he grants exceptional leave to remain in the UK to those cleaners who are still being detained.”

This also applied to those forced into hiding by the raid, and incorporated a request for the immediate return of the five cleaners already deported.

SOAS also stated a willingness to re-consider the possibility of bringing cleaning services in-house, at the next scheduled meeting of its Governing Body.

But there was no mention in the final document of sacked cleaner Jose Stalin Bermudez, who has been campaigning for reinstatement.

SOAS also refused, on grounds of illegality, an earlier call to “inform the relevant unions (UNISON / UCU / SOAS SU)” if they have prior knowledge of a future immigration raid, and to “discuss legal issues around their facilitation.”

The occupation, and the demonstrations held daily outside SOAS, received support from Green MP Jean Lambert and two Labour MPs. Jeremy Corbyn spoke at Tuesday’s rally, praising the “principled stand” of the protestors, and John McDonnell tabled an Early Day Motion to parliament.

However, a split emerged within SOAS’s academic community. A ‘solidarity statement’ was signed by more than twenty lecturers on Monday, articulating support for the objectives of the occupation and denouncing the School authorities for “facilitating this outrageous assault on a vulnerable group of migrant workers who dared to fight back.”

But a separate group of SOAS academic staff, including several Heads of Department, sent an email on Wednesday which condemned both the immigration raid and also the manner of the protest.

They called allegations that SOAS senior management was ‘taking revenge upon the cleaners’ “utterly ludicrous”.

The letter also claimed that Director Paul Webley had endured “crass and disrespectful treatment.” This prompted a response from the teaching fellow behind the original solidarity statement, Demet Dinler.

She called this criticism of students “disgraceful” and said it was “based on a lack of accurate information.”

The Heads of Departments did concur with their colleagues in condemning the “underlying government policies” [on immigration].

And significantly, the Student Union and Principal’s joint statement did not rule out the possibility that ISS had been complicit in the raid. It declared the School to be “disturbed by allegations that have emerged about the possible role that ISS played.”

Campaigners are asking supporters to contact the Home Office to request leave to remain for two cleaners being held at Yarlswood detention centre.

Marina Silva, sixty-three years old, and originally from Bolivia, has claimed asylum. After her husband was the victim of an honour killing, threats forced her to leave her home.

Rosa de Perez, protestors say, will have no means to support her four children if she is returned to Nicaragua, an extremely poor country hit hard by the global economic crisis.

Although the fate of the cleaners already deported is at present unknown, and the release of those in detention uncertain, protestors called the outcome of the occupation “constructive and positive”. They said it was “the start of a wider campaign” and hailed Professor Webley’s decision to indicate support – in his personal capacity – for the regularisation of non-documented workers.

No action will be taken against the protestors.

ISS declined to speak to London Student.