The police intervened on Friday May 3 at midday to expel several dozen students from a Sciences Po Paris building who had been mobilized in support of Gaza for several days. The Palestine committee, which brings together the demonstrators concerned, announced in a press briefing broadcast live on Instagram that it had “refused the compromise” proposed by the management – ??the content of which was not known at the time of the intervention of the security forces. ‘order.
The arrival of mobile gendarmes and a Republican security company and the evacuation was partly broadcast on the same Instagram account. In the images, several students, sitting on the ground, are grabbed one by one by the shoulders by an agent then directed towards the exit – sometimes by being dragged along the ground. In a video from the Palestine committee published a few minutes later, the students are outside the establishment.
Thursday evening, the management of Sciences Po Paris decided to close its main premises, Friday May 3, due to a new occupation by a few dozen students mobilized for Gaza. “Following the student occupation vote, the buildings at 25, 27, 30, rue Saint-Guillaume and 56, rue des Saints-Pères will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3,” said a message from the resources department. human resources of Sciences Po, sent Thursday evening to employees.
After an internal debate on the Middle East on Thursday morning, the result of the agreement previously reached with the administration, which they considered “disappointing, but not surprising”, the students of the Palestine committee at Sciences Po announced, Thursday after -noon, the launch of a “peaceful sit-in” in the school hall and the occupation of the campus was voted for by around a hundred students gathered in a general assembly.
At the same time, the start of a hunger strike was announced by six students “in solidarity with the Palestinian victims.” The hunger strikes will continue until “an official, non-anonymous vote is held on the board of the Institute for the Investigation of Partnerships with Israeli Universities,” Hicham, spokesperson for the Palestine committee, told the press.
Debate organized by the UEJF at Place de la Sorbonne
The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), for its part, is organizing a “dialogue table” all day Friday, at Place de la Sorbonne, to “debate with Jewish students”, “fight against the polarization of the debate » and “show that we can mobilize without insulting and inveighing”. Samuel Lejoyeux, president of the UEJF, explained in a column in Le Monde why he considered this exchange necessary.
The Jourdan campus of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) was blocked by students on Thursday. In Lille, the Institute of Political Studies was closed on Thursday and access to the Higher School of Journalism (ESJ) was blocked. Friday morning, the journalism school remained closed, and the police were on site. At Sciences Po Lille, a meeting between management and students is scheduled for the day.
At Sciences Po Lyon, “around a hundred” people occupied an amphitheater on Thursday evening, a representative of the National Union of Students of France (UNEF) announced to Agence France-Presse. The head of the La France insoumise deputies, Mathilde Panot, came to “give them her support” at the end of the evening after a meeting in Vénissieux, she reported on X. In Saint-Etienne, a handful of students blocked Thursday morning access to a university site, before being evacuated by the police.