Pro-Palestinian students at Sciences Po, one of France’s most elite universities, occupied campus buildings overnight. Like-minded demonstrators set up camp at University College London. Tents with Palestinian flags have been dotted across Australian university campuses this week.
Tensions at U.S. universities appear to be spreading to other countries, where student activists are challenging their own schools’ positions on the Gaza war and relations with Israel.
Demonstrators at several French universities have pressured administrators to more strongly condemn Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and review partnerships with Israeli universities and private donors.
Police entered Sciences Po on Friday morning and cleared a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who had occupied a campus building overnight, according to a spokesperson for Sciences Po. The intervention follows a town hall debate on the Gaza war held at the university on Thursday. The university, which counts top politicians, civil servants and business leaders among its alumni, has failed to ease tensions.
A spokesman for Sciences Po said the main Paris campus was closed on Friday.according to live video In a video shared on Instagram, students sitting in the hall chanted: “We demand justice! We called the police!” as police pulled them out.
In the UK, small camps began to appear at universities in cities such as Bristol, Newcastle and Warwick. A coalition of students and staff at University College London set up tents on campus Thursday to pressure the school to divest from companies complicit in the “genocide of Palestinians,” among other demands.
“We will not take action until the university meets our demands,” a spokesman named Anwar said in a statement Thursday. social media posts. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The union representing students at Trinity College Dublin said the university had fined it more than 214,000 euros ($230,000) over disruptive protests, student fee increases and the impact of the war in Gaza since September. Economic losses caused by other problems. The nonprofit university noted in a statement that the protests had a “negative financial impact” by preventing visitors from reading the Book of Kells, a medieval religious manuscript preserved at the school.
Laszlo Molnarfi, president of Trinity’s student union, said in a telephone interview that the union was unable to pay the fine. He called it an act of intimidation by the university, adding that the protests would continue.
“We’re going to upgrade,” he said. “Colombian and American students are definitely an inspiration to all of us.”
In Australia, camps have been Founded in major universities In cities such as Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Those protests became more tense as pro-Israel demonstrators gathered nearby.
Speaking about the camps, the Australian Jewish Students Union social media posts Thursday, “We are deeply concerned that denigration of Jewish students will escalate further.”
Australian university administrators say they support students’ right to protest while warning them to abide by school policies.
“It would be naive to think that students won’t be tested by the same issues as wider society,” said Vicky Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, a group representing Australia’s top universities. told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Aurelien Breeden Contributed reporting.
