This Friday, the police once again evicted, without incident, 91 pro-Palestinian students who were occupying the premises of the Sciences Po institute in Paris. The French Government has insisted that it will maintain “total firmness” against blockades on universities due to protests over the Gaza conflict.
The educational center, one of the most prestigious in the world in political science and international relations, had already canceled activities hours before as a preventive measure to avoid an escalation of tension.
The Palestine Committee, very active in the protests, rejected a compromise that the institute’s management had offered. Two of its representatives denounced the police force in the vicinity, which they judged to be a “disproportionate response.”
The French Government does not want the situation to get out of hand and that is why it acts quickly and determinedly to vacate occupied university premises, such as Sciences Po branches in the regions and other university centers such as the Lille School of Journalism, in the North of the country.
France is one of the European countries most sensitive to what is happening in Gaza. Not in vain is it home to the largest Jewish and Muslim communities on the continent, so the potential for conflict is great. There is also a well-established culture of street riots.
Despite the eviction of Sciences Po, the protest found other avenues of expression in Paris. For example, a spontaneous demonstration was organized in the Pantheon Square that brought together two hundred people with banners against “the repression and the closure of the faculties” and denouncing “imperialism” and “the genocide in Gaza.”
The area of ??Paris where the Sciences Po headquarters is located is the Latin Quarter, where pitched battles with the police took place in 1968 during the May 68 revolt. At the moment there is no indication that the tension could exacerbate and extend to that point. , but the Government is very attentive to prevent the public order crisis from worsening.
