Pro-Palestine protesters are thought to have stolen commercial secrets from the University of Cambridge when they stormed a building during demonstrations last year, The Telegraph has learnt.

Members of the Cambridge for Palestine protest group raided locked filing cabinets holding highly confidential documents belonging to the university during their 15-day occupation of Greenwich House from Nov 22 to Dec 6 last year.

The property is one of Cambridge University’s main administrative buildings and houses commercially sensitive and personal information relating to the institution.

In court documents seen by The Telegraph, Cambridge accused protesters of launching an “apparently intentional search for documents”, which it warned “posed a significant threat to the safeguarding of the confidential, commercially sensitive and/or personal information stored at Greenwich House”.

The university claimed this entailed “deliberate breaches” of security, including pro-Gaza activists “gaining access to restricted areas of the building, opening locked cabinets and searching through cabinets”.

It said this came after protesters activated the fire alarm of the building on Madingley Rise, prompting staff to evacuate those inside.

Members of the activist group then covered the windows and blockaded the entrances and exits to prevent staff from re-entering the building.