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Sciences Po university closes main Paris site over Gaza protest

France's prestigious Sciences Po university said it would close its main Paris site on Friday due to a fresh occupation of buildings by dozens of protesting pro-Palestinian students.

Sciences Po university closes main Paris site over Gaza protest
Protesters demonstrate near the entrance of a Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris) building occupied by students. Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

In a message sent to staff on Thursday evening, its management said the buildings in central Paris “will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3rd. We ask you to continue to work from home”.

A committee of pro-Palestinian students earlier on Thursday announced a “peaceful sit-in” at Sciences Po and said six students were starting a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims” in war-torn Gaza.

Sciences Po is widely considered France’s top political science school and counts President Emmanuel Macron among its alumni.

Echoing tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a series of protests, with some furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.

The Paris regional authority’s right-wing head Valerie Pécresse temporarily suspended funding to Sciences Po earlier this week over the protests, condemning what she called “a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred”.

The war started with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel estimates that 129 captives seized by militants during their attack remain in Gaza. The military says 34 of them are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 34,596 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

A member of the student committee who identified himself only as Hicham said the hunger strikes would continue until the university’s board voted on holding an investigation into its partnerships with Israeli universities.

Sciences Po’s acting administrator Jean Basseres said he had refused that call during a debate with students, held at the university in a bid to calm days of protests.

Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau earlier on Thursday called on university heads to “keep order”, including by calling in the police if needed.

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PROTESTS

Quarter million protest in France against far right: police

Some 250,000 people took to the streets across France on Saturday to protest the rise of the far right after their success in European polls prompted President Emmanuel Macron to call legislative elections, police said.

Quarter million protest in France against far right: police

In Paris, police estimated 75,000 people had responded to a call from unions, associations and a new left-wing political coalition formed for the parliamentary elections.

The CGT union put the figure at 640,000 protesters at a total of 182 rallies including 250,000 in Paris.

From Bayonne in the southwest to Nice in the southeast, from Vannes in the west to Reims in the east, demonstrators mobilised against the prospect of a victory for the far right in the legislative elections.

READ ALSO: IN PICTURES: Hundreds of thousands protest against far right in France

If that were to happen, National Rally (RN) party leader Jordan Bardella could become prime minister.

The RN enjoyed a healthy lead in recent election polls.

“I thought I would never see the far right come to power and now it could happen,” said Florence David, 60, who took part in the Paris protest.

“No need to vote RN to love France,” was among the slogans used.

The marches took place mostly in calm, but police arrested 20 people, including nine in Paris.

Five police officers were lightly injured in the protests.

There were brief episodes of tension in Rennes and Nantes in western France where a few dozen hard-left activists were pushed back by the police with tear gas.

In Paris, street infrastructure was damaged and two bank branches were targeted by hooded protesters.

Police in the capital were also the target of thrown bottles, to which they responded with tear gas, AFP correspondents said.

Some 21,000 members of the security forces were deployed across France.

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