Cambridge University has been granted a temporary injunction to stop pro-Palestine protests going ahead this weekend.

The High Court said on Thursday it had granted an interim injunction until 11pm on Saturday to prevent demonstrations from disrupting a graduation ceremony set to take place that day.

Mr Justice Fordham said people would be barred from attempts to “enter, occupy or remain” in the Senate House building or the lawn outside, which will host a graduation ceremony for around 500 students on Saturday.

However, he refused the university’s efforts to take longer-term action and denied Cambridge an injunction that would have blocked pro-Palestine protests for the next five years.

Mr Justice Fordham said he was “not prepared” to grant a blanket injunction that would stop pro-Gaza protests taking place across the university campus until 2030.

“I do not consider there to be a compelling justification or imminent risk justifying any further or other order; nor am I satisfied that it would be procedurally fair for this court today to be making any wider or further order,” he said in his judgment.

Yasser Vanderman, the barrister who led the university’s legal team, had requested a long-term injunction with annual reviews, arguing that this was reasonable given the “long-standing nature” of the conflict in the Middle East.

Cambridge said an urgent injunction was also necessary since there was a “real and imminent risk” that pro-Palestine protesters were planning to disrupt graduation ceremonies for a second year running.

It claimed that more than 1,600 students had their graduation events disrupted by pro-Gaza protests across the university last year.