French students hung Palestinian flags on the windows and above the entrance of the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris on Friday. They also chanted in support of the Palestinians, and several wore the black and white keffiyeh scarf that has become a symbol of solidarity with Gaza.
“Seeing what’s happening in the United States and now in Australia, we really hope it catches on here in France. Academia has a role to play in this,” Hicham, 22, a master’s student in human rights and humanitarian studies at Sciences Po, told Reuters. The students want the university to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza, he told the agency.
“We hope it will spread to all universities and beyond … we will not give up until the genocide in Gaza ends,” Zoe, 20, a master’s student in public administration, told Reuters.
Sciences Po interim director Jean Basseres condemned the building blockade in a letter to faculty. He confirmed that the first group of protesters had been taken out by the police on Wednesday night, adding that student representatives were now in talks to try to find a solution together.
Clashes between police and students demonstrating against Israel’s war in Gaza erupted again on Thursday at US universities. They have raised questions about the violent methods used to quell the protests, which have intensified since mass arrests at Columbia University last week.
Pro-Palestinian protests on American universities
Israel has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians during attacks on the Gaza Strip, health authorities from the occupied territory announced on Thursday. The Jewish state is responding to an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that Israeli authorities say killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostage.
Are Israel and Hamas following the rules of war?
Images from Israeli kibbutzim invaded by Palestinian terrorists, as well as images of devastation in the Gaza Strip, which was attacked by the Israeli army in retaliation, reopen the debate about the rules of armed conflict and the necessity of observing them.
What are the rules of war and do Israel and Hamas follow them? We have prepared a list of questions and answers.
