Agreement between university and pro-Palestine protesters at Sciences Po in Paris. Disciplinary procedures suspended

Tension eased at the Parisian University of Political Sciences (Sciences Po) where mobilizations in support of Palestine have been underway for days and an intervention by the police was feared. The university announced that it had reached an agreement with the protesters who occupied it, committing to start an internal debate and suspend the procedures […]

Tensions at the Parisian university are eased Political Science (Sciences Po) where mobilizations in support of Palestine have been underway for days and an intervention by the police was feared. The university announced that it had reached an agreement with the protesters who occupied it, committing to start an internal debate and to suspend the disciplinary procedures initiated against those who participated in the protest. “Taking these decisions into account, the students are committed to Don’t disturb the courses anymoreexams and to protect all the activities of the institute,” he wrote Jean Bassères, administrator of Sciences Po, in a message addressed to students and teachers.

In the United States, there are fears of further police action against students mobilizing in support of Palestine at Columbia University. The students say they are at an impasse regarding discussions with the university and that they intend to continue to remain camped out. Pro-Palestine demonstrations are underway in numerous other universities, including MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Berkeley.

Meanwhile, fearing the repercussions of a vote of censure on the president Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s academic senate watered down the text of the resolution by expressing “displeasure” with a series of decisions including calling the police to arrest pro-Palestinian students on campus. Members of the organization that brings together professors, students and university staff realized that Shafik’s censorship would lead to almost certainly to its removal from the position assumed only a few months ago in a moment of serious crisis of the institution. The fear is also that the censorship could be seen as a concession to pressure from Republican parliamentarians such as the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson who called for Shafik’s resignation for failing to contain the protests.

The pro-Gaza protests on American campuses are “part of democracy”, the Secretary of State said today, speaking from Beijing Antony Blinken who, however, criticized the “silence” on the part of the demonstrators regarding the Palestinian Hamas militants who attacked Israel on 7 October. “Protests are a mark of democracy. Our citizens make their opinions, their anger known, whenever they think it is necessary. This reflects the strength of our country,” she said.