a day of tensions over the blocking of Sciences Po Paris

At 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, in the very chic 7th arrondissement of the capital, the Palestinian flag partly covers the lion and the fox, emblems of Sciences Po Paris. In front of the wrought iron door of the historic premises of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP), trash cans and wooden pallets pile up. “Today, no one is coming home”warns one of the security agents. “I find it really great that the movement continues and lasts over time”, enthuses Marie*, a first-year master’s student, keffiyeh around her head. On Thursday, around ten members of the Palestine committee of the IEP entered the establishment to occupy it. A mobilization which continued on Friday April 26 and which concluded in the evening with an agreement reached with management.

Wednesday evening, 400 meters away, an attempted rally in support of Palestine was stopped dead by the CRS. The students were evicted from the Saint-Thomas campus. This intervention by the police was requested by the management of the Parisian Grande Ecole after the installation of tents in the interior courtyard, a demonstration which echoes the gatherings organized in American universities.

“Faced with the risk of setting up a camp over several days and disrupting our teaching and research activities, I decided around midnight to request […] the intervention of the police to carry out the evacuation”explains Jean Bassères, the provisional administrator of the school, in an e-mail sent to the educational community. “It’s illegal to occupy premises that are not designed for this use and they know it”recalls the management contacted by telephone by franceinfo.

This police intervention disgusted some students present in front of the historic building Friday. “We demand justice for Palestine and they send us the policeunderlines Hervé*, public affairs student. Universities have always been a place of protest. Sciences Po’s slogan is ‘Understanding your time to act on the world’. That’s exactly what we do.”.

This observation is shared by Yacine, a pro-Palestinian activist who decided to join the demonstration: “Repressing students in this way is the worst signal we can send to young people.” The activist sees the presence of the police on campus as a “unfair process” aimed at suppressing pro-Palestinian voices. “Students are caricatured with comments taken out of context and isolated incidents that are blown out of proportion”he says.

For its part, management defends itself against any repression. “They have the right to express themselves and demonstrate, but within the framework of the regulationscontinues the administration, contacted by franceinfo. We would like to point out that there were no clashes during the evacuation, that everything was done in a very calm manner. Our only issue is the safety of our staff and our premises.”

The direction opposed to part of the demands

This protest movement is partly motivated by the lack of official condemnation by the establishment of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. “As the second university recognized globally in political science and international relations, Sciences Po must take a stand”says Matthieu*, a public affairs student.

The Palestine committee behind the demonstration also calls for the suspension of all partnerships with Israeli universities. “As the school did at the time of the war in Ukraine with Russian universitiesrecalls Hervé. We simply ask that the school reserves the same policy”. A claim deemed inadmissible by management. “This is not a request we will accede toaffirms the Parisian school to franceinfo. We are not faced with the same context, the Russian establishments had given their support to the war.”

The other request from the students concerns the cessation of “repression pro-Palestinian voices on campus”including prosecutions ofdisciplinary action committed against certain students after the occupation of the school’s main amphitheater on March 12. “If the administration accepts our conditions, we all go home, otherwise we will continue”warns Marie.

LFI elected officials in support and the public highway evacuated

Throughout the morning of Friday, the students of the prestigious Parisian school received the support of several figures from La France insoumise, including the Franco-Palestinian activist Rima Hassan, candidate on the insoumise list for the European elections. “It’s important to be alongside young people who say that we cannot resign oneself to indifferencesays LFI MP Sarah Legrain, also on the scene. This youth is our honor, because it speaks to the youth of the whole world. She has very understandable demands saying: ‘We cannot be complicit in this.'”. “It’s really good that we are supported”rejoices Hervé.

A few meters further, the deputy for the third constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, Thomas Portes, with his arms crossed, observes the gathering. “I’m here to simply say thank you and support themhe explains. These young people are the pride of France and fortunately they do not agree to remain inactive in the face of a French government which is complicit in a genocide.”.

The UNI (National Inter-University Union), a student union classified on the right, condemned these blockages on Friday, notably in a message posted on the social network X. Further to the left, the student union Unef (National Union of Students of France) has, through its secretary general, Hania Hamidi, supported the blockade.

In reaction to these events, the Minister of Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, announced that she had contacted the ethics college. “It is important to reposition, place, objectify the principles, the role and the position of our establishments so that precisely there is no spread of what we know in the United States”she explained, before adding: “Debate, yes. Blocking, no.”

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”. A stampede occurred between supporters of the two camps, which the police separated. At the end of the afternoon, “taking into account the disturbances to public order”the police headquarters announced “evacuate public roads and not Sciences Po”. An agreement with management was finally reached: its announcement was greeted by cries of joy from the demonstrators, who gradually left the scene.

* First names have been changed at the request of interested parties.