Sciences Po university says it is closing main Paris site over Gaza protest
Paris, France – AFP
France’s prestigious Sciences Po university said it would close its main Paris site on Friday due to a fresh occupation of buildings by dozens of students advocating freedom of Palestine.
In a message sent to staff on Thursday evening, its management said the buildings in central Paris “will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3. We ask you to continue to work from home”.
A committee of students earlier Thursday announced a “peaceful sit-in” at Sciences Po and said six students were starting a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims” of Israel’s war.
Sciences Po is widely considered France’s top political science school and counts President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni.
Echoing tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a series of protests against Israel’s war on Gaza and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.
The Paris regional authority’s right-wing head Valerie Pecresse suspended funding to Sciences Po earlier this week over the protests, condemning what she called “a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred”.
Israel has killed at least 34,596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the local health ministry, in response to the Hamas’ October 7 attacks in which 1139 people died.
A member of the student committee who identified himself only as Hicham said the hunger strikes would continue until the university’s board voted on holding an investigation into its partnerships with Israeli universities.
Sciences Po’s acting administrator Jean Basseres said he had refused that call during a debate with students, held at the university in a bid to calm days of protests.
Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau earlier on Thursday called on university heads to “keep order”, including by calling in the police if needed.