The student movement against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip continues to expand around the world. Starting from American campuses, and sometimes being the subject of muscular police interventions, over the days it has spread to many large cities around the world, such as Paris, Lausanne, Berlin, Montreal, Mexico and even Sydney. Overview of student mobilization across the globe.
The United States, epicenter of the mobilization
Since April 17, a wave of mobilization for Gaza has swept across American campuses, in around forty universities, from the Atlantic coast to California, reminiscent of the demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In total, nearly 2,000 people were arrested, according to a report established by several American media.
In recent days, the police have carried out a series of manu militari dismantling of pro-Palestinian camps. Demonstrators barricaded in the prestigious Columbia University, the epicenter of the student mobilization, were chased out during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), dozens of students were arrested. Unlike other institutions, Brown University, in the state of Rhode Island, in the east of the country, agreed with the demonstrators on the dismantling of their encampment in exchange for a vote on a possible ” divestment” from “companies that enable and profit from the genocide in Gaza.”
This Tuesday, however, the UN said it was “concerned” about police actions on university campuses in the United States. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he was troubled “by a series of heavy-handed measures taken to disperse and dismantle the demonstrations”.
In France, Sciences Po busy again
This Friday, the police evacuated the pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied the prestigious Parisian school Sciences Po since the day before, which welcomes 5,000 to 6,000 students in the capital. A week after a mobilization already marred by tensions at Sciences Po Paris and a previous evacuation of premises, “91 people were evacuated, without incident”, specified the Paris police headquarters. The school’s provisional administrator, Jean Bassères, affirmed that there was no question, as some students were demanding, of “investigating” Sciences Po’s relations with Israeli universities.
Student mobilization in favor of Gaza and the Palestinians remains confined to Sciences Po Paris, its regional campuses (Lille, Le Havre, Dijon, Reims or Poitiers) and political studies institutes but is struggling to make a mark in the universities. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators from the Institute of Political Studies – not attached to Sciences Po Paris – were calmly evacuated by the police in Lyon, while the entrance to the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme de Lille was been unlocked. This Monday, the police also intervened at the Sorbonne to evacuate pro-Palestinian activists. The Minister of Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau asked university presidents this Thursday to ensure the “maintenance of public order”, using “the fullest extent of the powers” at their disposal.
Place de la Sorbonne, a few hundred meters from Sciences Po Paris, the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) is holding a “dialogue table” on Friday with guests, including the designer Joann Sfar, author of the successful comic strip “The Rabbi’s Cat”.
In the rest of Europe, a more scattered mobilization
In the rest of Europe, the mobilization is much less important than in France. In Germany, however, the police intervened this Friday to evacuate the pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of Humboldt University in Berlin, in the center of the capital. About 300 people joined the demonstration, according to police, including a few dozen who attempted a sit-in in the university courtyard. Some protesters were removed “by force” after refusing an alternative location offered, Berlin police reported on X. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner criticized the protest, writing on X that the city did not want ” situations such as in the United States or France”.
In Switzerland, around a hundred pro-Palestinian students occupied the entrance hall of the Géopolis building of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) this Thursday late afternoon, demanding an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and a cease-fire. immediate and permanent fire, reported the Keystone-ATS news agency.
On university campuses in the United Kingdom, where pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been quite recurrent since the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the mobilization is also less strong than in the United States or France. At Newcastle University, a small pro-Palestinian encampment was set up on a lawn in front of the university’s buildings, demanding that the management stop its partnerships with defense companies supplying Israel. Students in Leeds, Bristol and Warwick have also set up tents outside their university buildings.
In Canada, McGill University has been busy for a week
The pro-Palestinian student movement has established itself in several cities in Canada including Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal. The first and largest camp erected, that of the prestigious McGill University in Montreal, began on April 27 and grew. Hundreds of demonstrators have fortified their camp in recent days due to the threat of dismantling by the police.
They say they are determined to occupy the premises as long as necessary, until McGill cuts all financial or academic ties with Israel. This Wednesday, the management of the establishment declared that it wanted the camp to be dismantled “without delay”, affirming that it was a “non-negotiable” request. According to her, “a certain number of demonstrators are not part of the student community”. The Montreal police, who say they are advocating a “peaceful” outcome of the situation, have not yet intervened to dismantle the camp.
In Australia, a peaceful face-to-face between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators
At the University of Sydney, hundreds of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators came face-to-face on Friday. Despite some tense exchanges, the two gatherings remained peaceful and the police did not intervene. Pro-Palestinian activists have been camped for ten days on a lawn opposite the sprawling Gothic building of the University of Sydney, a bastion of Australian academic knowledge.
Like their American counterparts, protesters want the University of Sydney to cut its ties with Israeli institutions and refuse donations from arms companies. University Vice President Mark Scott wrote to students and staff to express his “commitment to free speech” and stopped short of asking police to dismantle the camp.
A camp set up at Mexico’s largest university
In Mexico City, dozens of pro-Palestinian students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the largest in the country, set up camp Thursday in the capital, chanting “Long live free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win!”. In particular, they asked the Mexican government to break diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel.