the pro-Palestinian mobilization set to last? First tensions

After a night spent in a Sciences Po Paris building, the students mobilized to support the Palestinian cause intend to win their demands, even though the first tensions broke out on site.

In Paris, the historic building of Sciences Po University located at 27 rue Saint-Guillaume is still blocked, occupied by several dozen students from the Palestine Committee. On the night of Thursday April 25 to Friday April 26, the latter took possession of the premises to protest against the bombings in Gaza, reports franceinfo. The day before, a first blockade of the establishment had ended after an intervention by the police at the request of management. Refueled with shopping bags hoisted at arm’s length, the students intend to stay on site until their demands are met, namely, the end of “collaborations” with all “institutions or entities” which are now complicit in the “systemic oppression of the Palestinian people”.

If a delegation of mobilized students has been received by the school management, they do not intend to lift the fence until the school has responded on several points. Among them, the official condemnation by Sciences Po Paris of the actions committed by the Hebrew State which, for these students, would violate international law, or the holding of an assembly which would bring together all of the school’s partners to talk about the situation in Palestine. Finally, the abandonment of possible sanctions against all students involved in the mobilization.

First tensions

The movement, copied from that currently taking place within American universities such as New York, Yale or Columbia, took a new turn in the middle of the afternoon this Friday. Around fifty pro-Israel demonstrators gathered, some masked, in front of the premises of the prestigious Parisian school, chanting several demands, including “Liberate Sciences Po” or “Liberate Gaza from Hamas”. An arrival frowned upon by the pro-Palestinian students already present there, leading to a stampede between supporters of each camp, reports South Radio.

In a press release published this Friday, April 26, the management of Sciences Po condemned in the strongest terms these student actions which “prevent the proper functioning of the institution and penalize students, teachers and employees of Sciences Po”, while several Classes had to be canceled. The Minister of Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, said BFMTV regret a debate that was not “peaceful” as well as “the red lines that were crossed”. And to clarify: “The debate, yes. The blockage, no”, castigating the “dangerous game” of La France insoumise in the mobilization.

Traveling to Yerevan in Armenia, Jean-Luc Mélenchon gave his support to the students mobilized on X, believing that they are “at this moment, for us, the honor of our country”. Rima Hassan, candidate in 7th position on the LFI list and pro-Palestinian jurist, for her part made the trip to Sciences Po to provide support to “courageous” and “luminous” students in their struggle.