A pro-Palestinian group has spoken out following the arrests of 16 protesters and a statement from Oxford University, which said a campus sit-in had "escalated". 

A spokesperson for Oxford Action For Palestine said all arrested protesters had now been released on bail and the charges against them had been dropped. 

Thames Valley Police has been contacted for comment regarding these claims.

READ MORE: Oxford university students arrested after Palestine protest

An OA4P spokesperson said: "We've been able to contact our peers who had been arrested.

"Everyone is shaken and disappointed by the University's disproportionate violence to its own students, but they are doing okay."

The group also said medics were necessary on scene for multiple protesters who they claim were harmed by police. 

The spokesperson said: "Police violently pushed protestors without warning, threw them to the ground, and inched their van through a crowd of seated students over the course of two hours."

"Multiple students were punched in the face and left bleeding, grabbed by the shirt and flung to the ground with abrasions, and students' glasses were broken." 

Some of the incidents alleged were witnessed by an Oxford Mail reporter on site. 

The Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) group has said the sit-in at the Wellington Square building was initiated after "exhausting all other avenues of communication with the administration, following seventeen days of non-response". 

A Gaza solidarity encampment was established on May 6 outside the Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums, before OA4P later established a camp at the Radcliffe Camera and staged "die-ins" at graduation ceremonies. 

The protesters are set to remain at the two encampments until the university agrees to negotiations.  

Following the arrest of 16 protesters on Thursday, May 23, more than one hundred student and staff supporters gathered outside Wellington Square calling for university action in response to the situation in Gaza and for the release of students.  

In a statement released on the evening of May 23, Oxford University said: "The University has always respected the right to peaceful protest by students and staff within the law and regulations, and it is deeply regrettable that the protestors have gone beyond that line." 

The statement which was sent to students and staff said the group had "forced entry and temporary occupation of a section" of the offices and caused "significant distress for members of reception staff and the wider staff community".

The statement claimed OA4P had staged a "violent action that included forcibly overpowering the receptionist, and then entry into the Vice-Chancellor’s office while she was on a call, shouting and starting to barricade the doors". 

In a statement released shortly after the university's, OA4P claimed: "after a short briefing by the police, the students agreed to vacate the premises peacefully". 

"However the police refused to allow the students to leave, confiscated their phones, and placed them under arrest."

The group also said its lawyers had reviewed the CCTV footage of the protesters entering the building via the reception and "assure us that there is no basis for an allegation of 'physically handling the receptionist'".

The University has been contacted for an updated statement on claims charges were dropped.