The student movement against the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip continues all over the world: starting from American campuses and sometimes being the target of police repression, it has reached Paris, Lausanne, Berlin , Montreal, Mexico and even Sydney. Since April 17, a wave of mobilization for the Gaza Strip has engulfed American campuses in about 40 universities, from east to west, recalling the demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. In total, almost 2,000 people were arrested, according to a balance established by several American media.
In recent days, the police have violently dismantled pro-Palestinian camps, as happened on Friday at New York University (NYU), at the institution’s request. The barricaded demonstrations in the prestigious Columbia University, the New York epicenter of the student mobilization, were thus driven away.
At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), dozens of students were arrested.
Unlike other institutions, Brown University (Rhode Island) agreed to the demonstrations on the disbanding of their camp in exchange for a vote on possible “divestment” from the companies that make it possible and profit of the genocide in Gaza.
After a long period of silence, President Joe Biden insisted Thursday that “order must prevail.”
The police on Friday evacuated the pro-Palestinian activists who had occupied the prestigious Sciences Po school in Paris, which hosts between 5,000 and 6,000 students, since the previous day. A week after an already tense mobilization at Sciences Po Paris and a previous evacuation, “91 people were evacuated without incident,” Paris police headquarters said. The provisional administrator of the school, Jean Basseres, stated that there is no question, as some students demanded, of “investigating” Sciences Po’s relations with Israeli universities. The mobilization of students in favor of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians remains limited to Sciences Po Paris, its regional campuses (Lille, Le Havre, Dijon, Reims or Poitiers) and the Institutes of Political Studies (IEP), but has the difficulties extend to universities.
Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retaileau asked university presidents on Thursday to ensure “the maintenance of public order”, using “to the greatest extent the prerogatives” at their disposal.
In the Place de la Sorbonne, a few hundred meters from Sciences Po Paris, the Union of Jewish Students in France (UEJF) organized a “dialogue table” on Friday with guests, including Joann Sfar, author of the successful cartoon “The Rabbi’s Cat”
In Germany, the police intervened on Friday to evacuate the pro-Palestinian demonstrations gathered in front of the Humboldt University in Berlin, in the center of the capital. Some demonstrators were expelled “by force” after they refused another proposed location, Berlin police said on X. Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner criticized the protest, writing on X that the city does not want “situations like in the United States or in France”.
The pro-Palestinian student movement prevailed in several cities, including Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.
The first and largest boot camp, that of the prestigious McGill University in Montreal, began on April 27 and has been growing. Hundreds of demonstrators have strengthened their camp in recent days due to the threat of disbandment by the police. They say they are determined to occupy the premises as long as necessary, until McGill cuts all financial or academic ties to Israel. The university management said on Wednesday that it wants the camp dismantled “without delay”, saying it is a “non-negotiable” demand. According to her, “a certain number of demonstrators are not part of the student community”. The Montreal police, who say they are advocating for a “peaceful” solution to the situation, have not yet intervened to break up the camp.
At the University of Sydney, hundreds of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators came face to face on Friday. Despite some tense exchanges, the two gatherings remained peaceful and the police did not intervene. Pro-Palestinian activists have been sitting for ten days on a lawn opposite the sprawling Gothic-style building of the University of Sydney, a bastion of Australian academic knowledge. Like their American counterparts, the protesters want the University of Sydney to cut ties with Israeli institutions and refuse donations from arms companies.
In Mexico City dozens of pro-Palestinian students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the country’s largest, set up camp in the capital on Thursday, chanting “Long live free Palestine !” And “From the river to the sea, Palestine will win!”. In particular, they asked the Mexican government to cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel.
About a hundred pro-Palestinian students have occupied the entrance hall of the Geopolis building at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) since Thursday evening, demanding an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and an immediate ceasefire. The occupation continued peacefully on Friday and is expected to last until Monday.
Publisher: GM
