Pro-Palestinian students protest in front of Sorbonne University in Paris
Protesters have continued to gather in front of the university after police earlier forced out demonstrators inside its grounds.
French police are deployed in Paris as students block the entrance of Sorbonne University in support of Palestinians in Gaza
French police clear pro-Palestine protesters at Sorbonne University
Police have moved in to clear out dozens of protesters who had camped out in a courtyard of Sorbonne University in Paris to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, the Reuters news agency reports, citing a student at the scene.
The demonstration took place three days after protests at the French capital’s elite Sciences Po and came in the wake of rallies on campuses across the US against the war.
“We have every reason like in Yale, in Columbia, in Sciences Po … to condemn what we can see is happening,” the student, who only gave his name as Leonard, said at another rally outside the gates of the Sorbonne.
The university, one of the world’s oldest, closed its buildings for the day during the peaceful protests. Students chanted “Free Palestine” and urged the institution to condemn Israel.
Reporting from Paris, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said the protests were continuing outside the university’s gates.
Rights groups say pro-Palestinian protests ‘repressed’ in Europe
Rights groups say authorities in Europe are clamping down on pro-Palestinian protests.
“We see hate speech laws and counterterrorism laws being instrumentalised, being weaponised to go after what is legitimate speech under international standards,” Amnesty International researcher Julia Hall said.
Hall added that there has been “an avalanche of cancellations and targeting of peaceful protesters, academics, anyone who is basically out there in solidarity with Palestinian human rights or is criticising the state of Israel”.
In at least 12 EU member states, authorities have taken “disproportionate measures, including the pre-emptive banning of protests based on apparent risk to ‘public order’ and ‘security'”, the Brussels-based European Civic Forum said in a report published this month.
French authorities have banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, cancelled conferences and most recently summoned two far-left politicians for police questioning over alleged “support for terrorism” while Germany this month barred entry to former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis “to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda”.
