Like the United States, where universities are mobilizing against the war in the Gaza Strip, pro-Palestinian actions are increasing on French campuses. Franceinfo attended a demonstration on the Place du Panthéon.
With a banner wrapped on her shoulder, Manon, 21, quickly crosses the Place de la Sorbonne in Paris. Behind him, on the paved square, members of the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) set up a “dialogue table” on Friday, May 3, offering discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the raging war. in Gaza for more than 200 days. But the clock will soon show 2 p.m. and the young woman hurries to reach the Place du Panthéon, a few hundred meters away.
>> Pro-Palestinian mobilizations: follow the situation in our live stream
In front of the historic monument, a gathering of around 300 students is gradually taking shape to demand an end to the war in the Gaza Strip. At the call of several organizations, the demonstrators form a compact line with the cry of “No justice, no peace” or “Netanyahu, get out! Palestine is not yours!” against the current Israeli Prime Minister.
“We are part of a global movement”
“All we ask is peace and an end to the massacres”, assures Manon, who unfurled her flag of Unef, a student union classified on the left. In addition to her classes at Lyon 2 University, the student from Paris is part of the national office of the union and traveled to the Panthéon “to request an immediate ceasefire”. Around her, some wear a keffiyeh or an image of a watermelon, emblem of the mobilization for Palestine. “We are part of a global movement, which is very vocal in the United States, but not only”she assures.
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A week earlier, a Sciences Po Paris building was evacuated by the police while students occupied it. Similar interventions followed a few days later at the Sorbonne and Sciences Po Toulouse. The UEJF and voices in the government evoke a speech “anti-Semitic” among some demonstrators.
“I don’t know anyone around me who denies the fact that the October 7 attacks were a terrorist act. But the response to this act is appalling. That’s what we’re denouncing.”
Manon, member of Unefat franceinfo
On social networks, the criticisms leveled against the student occupations and the pro-Palestinian demonstrations did not escape the young activist. “By calling us anti-Semites or ignorant, they are trying to muzzle usshe believes. It’s of the same order as police evacuations. Youth has always been scary, because we know they can make things happen.”
“We want to show that young people are there”
For Jean-Pierre, a 25-year-old student at the Sorbonne, standing in front of the gates of the Pantheon is a response to the numerous police interventions in schools and universities. “I was shocked by these images, and I feel ashamed towards my government”confides the young man, who says to himself “politicized but not included”. Within his university, he participated in several general assemblies and followed the debates “as much as the courses allowed”.
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“Today, we want to mark the occasion, to show that young people are there”, he explains. That’s why he came with three friends. “What is happening in Gaza is a shame, how can people see the images of this war and do nothing?” he asks himself. The accusations of anti-Semitism against the pro-Palestinian movement also left him very irritated. “It’s the usual amalgamation, a way of silencing those who demand peace”he judges.
“We were tired of remaining powerless”
In small groups, the demonstrators slip between the banners. A foreign exchange student in Paris gives an interview in Portuguese to Brazilian television. The slogans chanted from the megaphone resonate under the arch of the entrance to the Pantheon. In the middle of the square, three students join the group, all out of breath.
“We’re a little late, but we’re here!” smile Maëva, Samantha and Warda, 18, 19 and 23 years old, all three studying history at the Sorbonne. Today’s rally is not their first action regarding the war in Gaza. “We participated in blockades and we follow the calls to demonstrate”they detail. “I can not do otherwiseconfides Maëva. We have eyes, phones, everyone is following this war live.” “We were tired of remaining powerless”adds Warda.
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If they do not claim to“no specific political party”the three comrades say they see “with a good eye” the support of certain training courses for student mobilization for Palestine. After supporting actions in Lille and Paris, activists from La France insoumise joined the demonstrators at the Panthéon with lots of banners. “If a party appears with us, of course it can make us want to vote in their direction”explains Samantha, when mentioning the European elections scheduled for June 9.
“But today, above all, we want to send a signal to the government, to the President of the RepublicWarda slices. Messages on Twitter are something, but we demand action and a clear position.” For the three students, the French position on the conflict is “much too ambiguous”.
“We cannot support the Israeli army and send humanitarian aid at the same time.”
Warda, history degree studentat franceinfo
The student denounces in particular the sending of military equipment to the Jewish state – but intended for use “purely defensive”, according to the government. The group of friends also calls for a change in outlook on their actions. “People only see us as students, sitting comfortably in our lecture hallsregrets Samantha. But we are the workers of tomorrow, and we too have our say in the world.”
“I’m not going to take my exams while Gaza is being bombed”
Less than an hour after the start of the mobilization, around ten activists from the UNI, a student union classified on the right, burst into a corner of the square to denounce the “fascism” pro-Palestinian demonstrators. According to them, the protesters do not have the right to prevent courses and exams within establishments. They are very quickly exfiltrated by a large police force, under boos and whistles.
Mathis, 24, deplores these criticisms. “What do they believe? That we are going to act as if nothing had happened? We are not going to revise wisely while there is a massacre underway in Gaza”fumes the student at Paris Cité, member of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). “I’m not going to pass my exams and then go on vacation quietly while people are getting bombed.”
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For the activist, the objective is “to establish the subject in French society”. “We saw that in the United States, everything started from campuses and in particular from Jewish students who did not want the war in Gaza to be launched in their name”, he recalls. With as a first step, apart from other actions “and possible blockages” future, “taking into account the war in Gaza in the debates linked to the European elections”.