Protests were due to take place in at least six universities on Wednesday, including Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle, with others expected to follow suit, in a show of solidarity with Palestinians.

Students are also calling for their individual universities to divest from firms that supply arms to Israel and in some cases sever links with universities in Israel.

While the focus of the protest movement in the UK in recent months has been on mass marches in London and other cities, students occupied university buildings and held demonstrations, which have been on a smaller scale and have attracted less attention.

However, violent scenes from Columbia University and other US campuses over the past few days, broadcast across the world’s media, have triggered renewed anger among UK students and a sense of shared solidarity.

David Maguire, the vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia (UEA), said protests at UK universities had been generally peaceful but agreed that events like those in the US “could happen here”.

In Sheffield, a group called the Sheffield Campus Coalition for Palestine, a coalition of “staff, students, and alumni” from the universities of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam, began an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians.