Students in France join pro-Palestine rally, mirroring US campus protests

Students in Paris have protested again after police broke up a pro-Palestine solidarity demonstration the night before at one of France's most prestigious universities.

Students at Sciences Po [Paris Institute of Political Studies] on Thursday accused management of calling in police to break up a pro-Palestinian protest by dozens of students gathered on a central Paris campus on Wednesday night.

"The director has crossed a red line by deciding to send in the police," Ines Fontenelle, a member of the Student Union at Sciences Po, told the AFP agency as 150 students gathered again.

"Management must take steps to restore a climate of trust."

Union spokesperson Eleonore Schmitt said the students would continue to mobilise "despite repression".

The union earlier said the decision by university officials to call in the police was "both shocking and deeply worrying" and reflected "an unprecedented authoritarian turn".

On Wednesday evening, dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied the amphitheater outside one of the university's campuses in the French capital's 7th district.

In a statement to AFP, university officials said the demonstration added to "tensions" at Sciences Po.

After discussions with management, most of the protesters agreed to leave, but "a small group of students" refused to do so and "it was decided that the police would evacuate the site," the statement said.

Sciences Po said it regretted that "numerous attempts" to have the students leave the premises peacefully had led nowhere.

Students had set up around ten tents. When members of law enforcement arrived, "50 students left on their own, 70 were evacuated calmly from 0:20 am", and the police "left at 1:30 am, with no incidents to report," the police said.

The protesters demanded that Sciences Po "cut its ties with universities and companies that are complicit in the genocide in Gaza" and "end the repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus", according to witnesses.

'Refuses dialogue'

The protest was organised by the Palestine Committee of Sciences Po.

In a statement on Thursday, the group said its activists had been "carried out of the school by more than 50 members of the security forces," adding that "around 100" police officers were "also waiting for them outside".

Sciences Po management "stubbornly refuses to engage in genuine dialogue", the group said.

The organisers have called for "a clear condemnation of Israel's actions by Sciences Po" and a commemorative event "in memory of the innocent people killed by Israel", among other demands.

Many top US universities have been rocked by Student Spring protests in recent weeks, with some students furious over Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian crisis in the blockaded enclave.

Hundreds in the US have been arrested across many universities, who also have the same demands.

France is home to the world's largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe's biggest Muslim community.