three questions on the red hands brandished by Sciences Po students mobilized in Paris

Demonstrators exposed their palms covered in blood red paint on Friday in front of Sciences Po Paris, the scene of a blockade by pro-Palestinian students. A gesture to denounce the massacres in the Gaza Strip, but which arouses questions, even indignation, among some.

Palms painted blood red, raised in the air by around ten masked people, sometimes their heads covered with a keffiyeh. This gesture by pro-Palestinian students, who blocked the premises of Sciences Po in Paris on Friday, sparked numerous reactions on social networks on Sunday April 28. Some interpret it as a reference to the lynching of two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank in 2000, during the second intifada. Others counter that it is a symbol regularly used during demonstrations organized to denounce different forms of violence. Franceinfo takes stock of this controversy in three questions.

1 What happened ?

These red hands brandished by demonstrators in front of the Sciences Po premises, located in the heart of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, are visible on videos broadcast via social networks and in photos from press agencies. They were taken on Friday, during the occupation of the establishment organized since Wednesday evening by a small crowd of students, activists and sympathizers of the Palestine committee, to demand “the clear condemnation of Israel’s actions by Sciences Po” And “the end of collaborations” with all “institutions or entities” judged to be accomplices “the systemic oppression of the Palestinian people”.

Friday, in the middle of the afternoon, the tension rose a notch, with the arrival of around fifty pro-Israel demonstrators, some of whom were masked and equipped with motorcycle helmets, shouting in particular “Free Sciences Po” Or “Liberate Gaza from Hamas”. After a stampede between the two camps, the police positioned themselves to separate them, without violence. All the demonstrators then gradually left the scene. Including those whose hands were colored red.

2 How is this gesture interpreted?

After the broadcast of these images, a montage which superimposes two photos appears on social networks. Above a photo of demonstrators at Sciences Po with their palms painted red, raised, is the photo of a man, shouting and brandishing his bloody hands in front of a crowd.

This photo, taken by Chris Gerald, finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for news photography, is distributed by Agence France-Presse. It shows a young Palestinian with bloody hands at the window of a police station, after the lynching of Israeli soldiers by hundreds of Palestinians, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, October 12, 2000. At that time, the second intifada, a period of Israeli-Palestinian violence, had just begun. As written Releasethese soldiers beaten to death were, according to the official version of the Israeli army, “military” who are “lost”. While the Palestinian police assure that it is “members of special services carrying out a spy mission”.

Today, pro-Israelis draw a parallel between the two events: for them, if the pro-Palestinian demonstrators colored their hands red and exhibited them in front of Sciences Po Paris, it is in reference to what happened on October 12, 2000. “Driven by anti-Semitic hatred, in the deafening silence of a part of the Republican left, the ‘right-thinking’ students of Sciences Po glorify a lynching!”is indignant about X Pernelle Richardot, a socialist elected official. “The red hands symbol is not a call for a ceasefire, it is a reference to this carnage. Wearing this symbol today is a call for massacre,” wrote the designer Joann Sfar on Saturday, in a post shared by the philosopher Raphaël Enthoven.

To support her remarks, Joann Sfar publishes another drawing on the social network, which represents Hubert Launois, student at Sciences Po Paris and member of the Palestine committee, interviewed Saturday evening on BFMTV on the symbolic significance of hands painted red.

3 What do pro-Palestinian activists say?

In fact, during the live debate on BFMTV, facing Maud Bregeon, Renaissance MP for Hauts-de-Seine, Hubert Launois recognizes, after condemning any anti-Semitic act, that the red-painted hands brandished by certain demonstrators constitute “a symbol which can be shocking, which is controversial”. “It refers to tragic events, indeed,” he continues, while the journalist on set recalls the lynching of Israeli soldiers in Ramallah in 2000.

“If it refers to this event, then it is an anti-Semitic drift that must be committed, sorry, excuse me, that must be condemned. Excuse me, it is a slip of the tongue. This symbol, for example example, it is also used to denounce child soldiers. It is regularly used at the UN. You cannot conclude that it is anti-Semitic to do that because you see these images.adds the student in response to Maud Bregeon, who considers that brandishing hands painted red is a gesture which “is akin to a call to hatred”.

“If it’s ignorance and stupidity and it shocks, then it’s also serious. And I understand that it can shock”, complete, in conclusion, Hubert Launois. Contacted by franceinfo on Sunday, he ensures that this gesture has only one and only “visual symbolism, illustrating the slogan: ‘You have blood on your hands'”. “We don’t know about the event of October 2000. It is not the symbol of our generation. Accusing us of referring to it contributes to the process of criminalization of pro-Palestine activists, to the McCarthyism campaign against them”, he defends himself. The student adds that this gesture “is not representative”, because it was not mentioned or debated during the vote organized on the blockade of Sciences Po.

In addition, Hubert Launois recalls, as others have done on social networks, that red hands are commonly used in anti-war movements, during mobilizations against leaders accused of having blood on their hands, or to denounce violence against women. The symbol is also used to illustrate the urgency of the fight against global warming. Thus, two years ago, around fifty Friends of the Earth activists took over the squares of several towns in France to paint a giant red hand, even though they too had colored hands.

Furthermore, Israelis themselves have already used this symbol. As reported by Times of IsraelOn April 23, in Tel Aviv, dozens of people raised their red-painted hands to call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and mark 200 days since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.