Police intervened on the night of Wednesday April 24 to Thursday April 25 at one of the Sciences Po Paris campuses to evacuate a site occupied by several dozen students who were holding a pro-Palestinian rally there, police said Thursday. establishment management.
wednesday night “the outdoor amphitheater of campus 1, rue Saint-Thomas was occupied by about sixty students campaigning for the Palestinian cause, contributing to a strong atmosphere of tension for students, faculty and staff” school, said management, which sent a message to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“After discussions with Sciences Po management, the majority agreed to leave the premises”but “A small group of students still refused and it was decided that the police would evacuate the site”, she added. Management of the establishment “he regrets that numerous attempts at dialogue to leave the scene peacefully did not allow to find another way out of this situation”.
According to the police headquarters, around ten tents were pitched in the yard of this campus. When the police arrived “50 students left the campus on their own, 70 were evacuated peacefully as of 12:20 p.m.” and the police “left the scene at 1.30am, no incident to report”. In a press release published on Thursday, Sciences Po’s Palestine Committee confirmed that its activists were “carried out of the school by more than fifty policemen” and it’“hundred” police officers “They also waited outside”.
The Sciences Po Paris Student Union, for its part, believed that the decision of the interim administrator of Sciences Po “involve the police” he was on the night from Wednesday to Thursday “both shocking and deeply disturbing” and testified to it“unprecedented authoritarian turn”.
About 150 students gathered at Sciences Po Paris at noon to protest this evacuation by the police. “The aim is to show that students will continue to mobilize despite repression”says Eléonore Schmitt, spokesperson for the Student Union. “The movement should gain momentum”according to her.
A wave of pro-Palestinian student mobilization in the United States
This mobilization was organized by the Palestine Committee of Sciences Po. It took place at a time when several American universities were the site of mobilizations and conflicts against their students against the background of the war in the Gaza Strip due to the conflict that it led against the Palestinian army. Islamist movement Hamas.
The Palestine Sciences Po Committee calls in its press release “Sciences Po clearly condemns Israeli actions”, “holding a vigil/minute of silence in memory of innocent people killed by Israel” or even “stopping disciplinary action by the administration to intimidate students”.
World workshops
Online courses, evening classes, workshops: develop your skills
Discover
Last week, around a hundred Columbia University students were arrested in the United States. They demanded an end to the war ravaging Gaza and called on their university to boycott all activities related to Israel. The anger of pro-Palestinian American students grew on Wednesday, with tense confrontations with police in Texas, New York, New England and California.
“There is a double degree between Science Po and Columbia. (In New York)so we have classmates there and students communicate with each other”explained Hicham, a member of the Palestine Committee at Sciences Po. “We are in line with these universities around the world. »