Police Evict Pro-Palestine Students in Paris and Lyon

May 3, 2024 Hour: 10:35 am

On Friday, French police evicted Pro-Palestinian students who had barricaded themselves in the buildings of the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in Paris and Lyon.

RELATED:

Palestinian Journalists Awarded 2024 UNESCO Press Freedom Prize

Several dozen riot police officers entered the well-known building in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where students were peacefully staging a sit-in, accompanying six colleagues who had declared a hunger strike to protest against the violence deployed by the Zionist State in Gaza.

Just a week ago, police also conducted a similar eviction when students demanded an investigation into the alleged ties of their institution with Israeli universities.

After the occupation, the authorities of Sciences Po sent a message announcing the closure of several of its buildings on St Guillaume Street and asking their employees to work remotely.

Several student organizations have called for a protest rally this afternoon at the Pantheon, located next to the Sorbonne, the most famous university in France.

Students at Sciences Po University in Paris staged a protest in solidarity with Gaza on campus. The elite political sciences university became the centre of a wave of student protests at several schools this week in France over academic ties with Israel. pic.twitter.com/XAPPE5ictA

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye)
May 3, 2024

In the morning, police also ended the occupation of the Science Po’s amphitheater in Lyon, where about a hundred students were protesting against the genocide that Israeli occupation forces are carrying out in Gaza.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who ordered firm action against student occupations, said that 23 university buildings had already been evacuated on Thursday across the country. These repressive measures, however, have not ended the protests.

“Glory to the youth of our country who defend our common humanity,” said the president of the parliamentary group of La France Insoumise, Mathilde Panot, who was accompanied by Franco-Palestinian lawyer Rima Hassan, a candidate for the European Parliament.

After an election rally in nearby Venissieux in Lyon, both leftist politicians went to the Sciences Po building to show their support for the occupiers.

Meanwhile, students continue to occupy the Journalism School in Lille for the second consecutive day. A demonstration is also expected on the University of Grenoble this Friday.

#FromTheSouth News Bits | International Workers’ Day was marked by mobilizations in defense of labor improvements, mostly peaceful, and also in rejection of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/QFcunAcn4k

— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish)
May 3, 2024