Inspired by US students, Gaza protest movement grows in French universities

Paris — After the United States, France is now seeing spreading pro-Palestinian protests at universities, with students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and ending support for Israel.

Palestinian flags were out in force during the annual Workers Day rally in Paris. Protesters like university student Zinedine Amiane are calling for an end to the war in Gaza — and for a change in French policy.

“We believe there’s a genocide happening and it cannot continue that way,” Amiane said in French. “France has to take its responsibility, which is to hold the voice for peace and try to obtain a cease-fire, to try to put pressure on Israel. …”

Amiane joined demonstrations this week at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he studies. Police broke up the protests but has not stopped the protest movement from growing — and spreading to other universities in France.

Eleanore Schmitt, spokesperson for the Student’s Union (Union Etudiante), said the more the government tries to suppress the protest movement, the stronger it will get.

She and other students say they’ve been inspired by the pro-Palestinian protests in the United States, where students have launched sit-ins and hunger strikes against the war in Gaza. Hundreds have been arrested.

The war in Gaza is a particularly sensitive issue in France, which is home to Western Europe’s largest communities of Jews and Muslims.

The protests here began last week at Sciences Po, an elite Paris university where President Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, studied. The head of the Paris region suspended the university’s funding until calm and order were restored.

Far-left lawmakers have supported the protest movement, but conservatives and the government have criticized what they consider excessive behavior.

Prime Minister Attal said there was always room for debate. But in the case of Sciences Po, he said a minority of students blocking the university were imposing their views on the majority — inspired by an ideology he calls imported from across the Atlantic.
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