Pro-Palestinian demonstrators: the blockade of Sciences Po Paris lifted Friday evening after a day of tension

Les manifestants face aux CRS, vendredi, devant les locaux de Sciences Po, à Paris. MAXPPP – TERESA SUAREZ

The management of the establishment finally reached an agreement with the pro-Palestinian students.

The students finally lifted, on Friday evening, the blockade of the Sciences Po campus that began the evening before, rue Saint-Guillaume in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. They believe they have been heard, after a day of increasing tensions and an evacuation order given to the CRS.

The school management confirmed that an agreement had been reached with these pro-Palestinian demonstrators. She announced the suspension of disciplinary proceedings initiated against students since April 17 and the holding of an open public meeting"to all Sciences Po communities". The students would have undertaken to no longer disrupt classes.

"The honor of this country"

The tension increased on Friday afternoon, with the arrival of around fifty pro-Israel demonstrators shouting in particular "Liberate Sciences Po" or "Liberate Gaza from Hamas", reports BFMTV.

The po-Palestine students, some wearing keffiyehs, had received support during the day from LFI elected officials, notably that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

"You are the honor of our country", he greeted in a message broadcast on site.

The demonstrations continue, at the same time, in New York (United States), on the Columbia campus. Palestine Legal, an organization also warning about the plight of residents of the Gaza Strip, said Thursday that it had filed a federal civil rights complaint against Columbia University after the mass arrest last week of demonstrators protesting against the war in Gaza.

The movement spreads to the United States

The university asked the New York police last week to intervene on campus to clear out demonstrators. More than 100 people were arrested. But a new evacuation of the campus was postponed on Friday. The protest movement has spread, in parallel, to other American universities, where hundreds of people were arrested last week.

Protesters call for an end to the war in Gaza. The European Union announced on Friday new humanitarian aid of 68 million euros (73 million dollars) intended for the Palestinians, who are suffering from deadly Israeli strikes. Jewish state since the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas in Israel.