Demonstration at Sciences Po: Gabriel Attal denounces a “heartbreaking spectacle” caused by an “active minority”

While the blockade of Sciences Po continued on Friday evening and evacuations had already taken place in the early evening, an agreement was finally reached with management, putting an end to the blockade.

After the blockade of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had mobilized around and inside the historic building of Sciences Po University, located at 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal deplored “a heartbreaking, shocking spectacle , of a minority effectively agitated by political forces, notably La France insoumise".

The head of government thus “welcomed the police who intervened to prevent violence from occurring”. “For the rest, there will be absolute vigilance which will continue in the days, weeks and months to come on respect for the values ​​of the Republic and the law,” he added. The Prime Minister insisted that "there will never be a right to blockade" and "never tolerance with the action of an active, dangerous minority, which seeks to impose its rules and an ideology from across the Atlantic to our students and teachers.

The management of the establishment had “firmly condemned these mobilization methods which prevent the smooth running of [its] activities”. She announced that she had suspended the disciplinary proceedings initiated since April 17 against pro-Palestine students. The management also promised the organization, by next Thursday, of a public meeting open “to all Sciences Po communities”.

The students who blocked Sciences Po pledged to no longer disrupt the life of the establishment. While about ten of them were still inside the building Friday evening, all have since left the premises. Outside, while BFMTV reported, around 6:30 p.m., between 200 and 300 demonstrators, around a hundred had already been evacuated by the police around 8 p.m., the CRS having been deployed by the Paris police prefect at the start of the evening. It should be noted that these evacuations took place peacefully.

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. Resupplied using shopping bags hoisted at arm's length, the students intended to remain on site until their demands were met.

If a delegation of mobilized students had been received by the school management, they did not intend to lift the fence until the latter had responded on several points. Among them, 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 on Friday. Around fifty pro-Israel demonstrators had in fact 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 indeed gave his support to the students mobilized on X, believing that they are "for us, the honor of our country". Rima Hassan, candidate in 7th position on the LFI list and pro-Palestinian jurist, had, for her part, made the trip to Sciences Po to support “courageous” and “luminous” students in their struggle.