French police break up Gaza war protest at the Sorbonne in Paris

About 100 demonstrators took part in the protest near the prestigious university, waving a giant Palestinian flag and chanting slogans in support of Palestinians in Gaza. 

The demonstration took place three days after protests at the French capital's elite Sciences Po university and as pro-Palestinian rallies sweep college campuses across the United States.

“There were around fifty of us when the police came running into the courtyard,” said Rémi, a 20-year-old student who took part in the Sorbonne protest.

“The evacuation was quite brutal, with around ten people being dragged to the ground, but no arrests were made,” he added.

“We have every reason, like at Yale, Columbia, Sciences Po (...) to condemn what we can see is happening,” said another student, who gave his name as Leonard, outside the university gates.

University authorities said the Sorbonne’s amphitheatres were “evacuated around noon” and the main campus was closed for the afternoon.

Several French politicians, including senior members of the hard-left party La France Insoumise (LFI, or France Unbowed), had earlier urged supporters on social media to join the Sorbonne protests.

Paris region suspends funding of elite school over Gaza protest

The Sorbonne occupies a unique place at the heart of French public and intellectual life. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron chose it as the venue to deliver a speech on his vison of Europe ahead of elections for the European Parliament in June.

Last week, protests broke out at the elite Sciences Po university in Paris, which counts Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal among its many famous alumni.

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Students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza had staged several days of sit-ins and protests at the Sciences Po campus in central Paris, some setting up tents in the central courtyard.

But police moved in on Friday amid a tense standoff between protesters and a group of about 50 pro-Israeli demonstrators who arrived at the scene.

On Monday, the head of the Paris region, Valérie Pécresse, said she was suspending funding for Sciences Po “until calm and security have been restored”.

In a social media post on X, Pécresse, a member of the right-wing Les Républicains, blamed the protests on “a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred, and instrumentalised by LFI and its Islamo-leftist allies”.

Protesters have denied accusations of anti-Semitic acts or slogans.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, Reuters, AP)