Prime Minister Gabriel Attal confirmed on Saturday, April 27 that he did “will be(it) you never have the right to block” on campuses, a day after a tense pro-Palestinian mobilization at Sciences Po Paris, concluded by an agreement between protesters and management. “There will never be a right to block, there will never be tolerance for the actions of an active and dangerous minority who seek to impose their rules on our students and our teachers.”said Mr. Attal during a trip to Pirou in the Manche.
The Prime Minister regretted “a heart-rending and shocking spectacle” blockade and partial occupation of the Paris establishment by pro-Palestinian protesters on Friday, which turned into tension in the face of other pro-Israel protesters.
But the situation calmed down only in the evening, when the management announced the suspension of disciplinary proceedings and the organization of an internal debate the following week. “For there to be a discussion, the rules must be respected” AND “This is not what we saw yesterday”guessed Mr. Attal, accusingly “a minority upset by political forces, especially La France insoumise (LFI) » of “try to disrupt the functioning of this institution”.
Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau for her party “thanked” Sciences Po leadership after the deal that ended the movement at that facility, “which must remain a place of study, respect and calm debate”.
But Republican boss Eric Ciotti saw it as a “unbearable submission”because the Sciences Po leadership “lies in the face of unbearable demands of far-left blocking students”said on X.
The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism further regretted having to move its national convention scheduled for Saturday to the Sciences Po Reims site at Reims City Hall due to a campus blockade in support of the Palestinian cause. Condemnation of the organized blockade on X “student supported” elected representatives of the LFI, she criticized “liberticidal methods” AND “unacceptable”.
The prime minister’s “authoritarian turn”.
On the side of the student unions, the Students’ Union called in a press release to “Intensify mobilization at study sites from Monday”.
To testify a “authoritarian turn” the prime minister was challenged by the National Union of Students of France in another press release about young people “to mobilize and take possession of their study places in all the forms they consider (as) legitimate to condemn attempts to muzzle”.
However, the president of the University of Strasbourg, Michel Deneken, guessed it “French universities, contrary to what one might read or hear, are not in flames and blood”. “Our mission is to enable adversarial debate to take place in peace, in academic exchange, but not in shouting or political renewal”he added on RMC.