Demonstration at Sciences Po: after tensions, first evacuations underway

While the blockade of Sciences-Po continued early Friday evening, the Paris police chief called for the evacuation of public roads. Earlier in the afternoon, tensions flared.

In Paris, the historic building of Sciences Po University located at 27 rue Saint-Guillaume is still blocked and occupied by students from the Palestine Committee. According to information from BFMTV, while 200 to 300 people were in front of Sciences-Po, around 6:30 p.m., the Paris police chief decided to evacuate the public highway. On site, the CRS carried out initial evacuations which took place peacefully. Around a hundred demonstrators had already left the scene around 8 p.m., according to the 24-hour news channel.

As for the interior of the building, it seems that around ten students are still there. Please note that no damage has been reported at this time. The management of Science-Po would lean more towards a calm departure than towards a proper evacuation. Thus, early Friday evening, Jean Bassères, the provisional administrator, had not signed a requisition aimed at removing the students in the building, BFMTV still relays. On the other hand, he actively spoke with the students so that they would leave.

On the night of Thursday April 25 to Friday April 26, students took over the premises to protest against the bombings in Gaza, reports franceinfo. The day before, a first blockade of the establishment had ended after an intervention by the police at the request of management. Refueled with shopping bags hoisted at arm's length, the students intend to stay on site until their demands are met, namely, the end of "collaboration" with all "institutions or entities" which are now complicit in the “systemic oppression of the Palestinian people”.

If a delegation of mobilized students has been received by the school management, they do not intend to lift the fence until the school has responded on several points. Among them, the official condemnation by Sciences Po Paris of the actions committed by the Hebrew State which, for these students, would violate international law, or the holding of an assembly which would bring together all of the school's partners to talk about the situation in Palestine. Finally, the abandonment of possible sanctions against all students involved in the mobilization.

The movement, copied from that currently taking place within American universities such as New York, Yale or Columbia, took a new turn in the middle of the afternoon this Friday. Around fifty pro-Israel demonstrators gathered, some masked, in front of the premises of the prestigious Parisian school, chanting several demands, including "Liberate Sciences Po" or "Liberate Gaza from Hamas". An arrival frowned upon by the pro-Palestinian students already present there, leading to a stampede between supporters of each camp, reports Sud Radio.

In a press release published this Friday, April 26, the management of Sciences Po condemned in the strongest terms these student actions which "prevent the proper functioning of the institution and penalize students, teachers and employees of Sciences Po", while several Classes had to be canceled. The Minister of Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, for her part said on BFMTV to regret a debate that was not “peaceful” as well as “red lines that have been crossed.” And to clarify: "The debate, yes. The blocking, no", castigating the "dangerous game" of La France insoumise in the mobilization.

Traveling to Yerevan in Armenia, Jean-Luc Mélenchon gave his support to the students mobilized on X, believing that they are "at this moment, for us, the honor of our country". Rima Hassan, candidate in 7th position on the LFI list and pro-Palestinian jurist, for her part made the trip to Sciences Po to provide support to “courageous” and “luminous” students in their struggle.