The government will take legal action following the pro-Palestinian mobilization at Sciences Po Paris, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Wednesday, March 13, before the establishment’s board of directors.
On Tuesday, about a hundred students occupied the main room, the Emile-Boutmy amphitheater, as part of a day of European university mobilization for Palestine. The movement responded to the call of the University Coordination Against Colonization in Palestine (CUCCP). In particular, the protesters called for the protection of pro-Palestinian students on campus.
Gabriel Attal, himself a former student of the prestigious school, applied “extremely severe sanctions”. “I think the French question very strongly and very deeply the form of the slope, the drift, associated with an active and dangerous minority in Sciences Po.”also condemned and specified that a “temporary administrator (was going to) to be appointed very soon (…) to ensure that our republican principles are always and everywhere respected”.
In the Council of Ministers, Emmanuel Macron had earlier condemned “ unspeakable and unbearable remarkss” reported the day before. According to the head of state, ” autonomy » the university does not justify “ the smallest beginnings of separatism “, said the government’s spokesperson, Prisca Thevenot.
In an email sent to the Sciences Po educational community on Tuesday evening, management expressed concern about this unauthorized occupation. He explains that the lecture had to be canceled and the student was denied access to the room. The UEJF confirmed that young people belonging to the association were ” they attacked as Jews and Zionists “.
The mobilized students denounced in a press release through the Paris Committee of Palestine Sciences Po, “ the far right’s baseless accusations of anti-Semitism » and confirm that they do not tolerate any racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic or sexist remarks as part of their struggle.
According to information from World There are conflicting versions of what happened on March 12 at the Emile-Boutmy amphitheater, during an event by the Paris Committee of Palestine Sciences Po. The surprise mobilization, attended by around a hundred students, was led by a call from the University Coordination Against Colonization in Palestine, a network that presents itself as composed of researchers, teacher-researchers and students. “end genocidal war and colonization in Palestine”.
According to one of the organizers, a master’s student in human rights and humanitarian projects at the School of International Affairs, the student who was denied entry to the amphitheater “He almost systematically gets into arguments and tends to pull out his phone to film faces.” Three students claim they did not hear the comments: “Don’t let her in, she’s a Zionist.” » On the other hand, specify two of them, a young woman spoke in the amphitheater benches “a warning that the UEJF is present and that we must be careful not to be filmed.” According to the president of the UEJF section at Sciences Po, the student was not directly interviewed, but he is “ he came out because the atmosphere was too heavy.
“Intolerable behavior”
During the day, the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, visited the Paris premises. ” Our facilities are a place of study and debate. The law must be strictly followed. It is unbearable and shocking to suffer the slightest discrimination, the slightest incitement to hatred.”she wrote in a tweet.
The president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, also condemned what happened on X. “Sciences Po management must respond strongly to these growing incidents. The Palestinian cause deserves better than these anti-Semitic outbursts worthy of the worst hours in French history,” he writes. Still on
Sciences Po management announced a referral to the competent disciplinary department against people at the origin of ” these unbearable acts “. ” Ongoing conflict since October 7 (2023) between Israel and Hamas affects us, email continues is impacting Sciences Po, among students, faculty and staff… Sciences Po is a place that must protect and support all members of its communities and will continue to design initiatives that address the manifestations of this suffering. as an understanding of this crisis. »
Online courses, evening classes, workshops: develop your skills
Discover
The administration’s response comes in a turbulent context, as the president of Sciences Po Paris, Mathias Vicherat, announced his resignation on the morning of Wednesday, March 13, after learning of his dismissal and the recall of his ex-partner before the criminal court. acts of domestic violence. An interim administrator must be appointed in the coming days.