PARIS– Students in Paris, inspired by Gaza solidarity camps on US campuses, peacefully evacuated the campus building of a prestigious French university on Friday night after days of tensions.
The director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, said an agreement was reached on Friday with the students. Sciences Po counts among its many famous alumni President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
Tensions flared on campus when pro-Palestinian students attempted to occupy an amphitheater earlier this week.
On Friday, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters clashed in a tense confrontation on the street in front of the school. Riot police intervened to separate the opposing groups.
The students later agreed to leave the site.
Wajih, a pro-Palestinian protester and Sciences Po student, who declined to give his last name for fear of disciplinary sanctions from the university, said “the occupation has stopped for now. But we will continue to support the Palestinian movement in general, we will support other universities, we will support everyone until Palestine is free.”
In an email to students, Sciences Po administrator Jean Bassères pledged Friday to hold a public meeting next week and to suspend some disciplinary procedures against students. In exchange, the students “pledged not to further disrupt courses, exams, and all other activities of the institution,” the email said.
The university administration closed all university buildings and moved classes online on Friday.
The Gaza war is deeply divisive in France, which has the largest population of Muslims and Jews in Western Europe. France initially attempted to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations after Hamas’s surprise on October 1. 7 attack on Israel that unleashed the war. Anti-Semitism has increased.