French police expel protesters at Sorbonne anti-Israel protest

Police expelled dozens of demonstrators who had set up tents in a courtyard at the Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday (29) to protest the war in Gaza, students said.

The demonstration took place three days after protests at the capital's elite university, Sciences Po, and followed rallies on campuses across the United States against the conflict.

“We set up tents… like at several US universities,” said Sorbonne student Louis Maziere. “We are doing everything we can to raise awareness about what is happening in Palestine, about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

“The police then came running, tore down the tents, grabbed the students by the collars and dragged them to the ground, this is not OK… We are quite shocked,” he said.

Colleague Lou said: “What we are asking for is peace and they are responding with force and violence.”

BFM TV showed footage of police dragging students out.

A police source confirmed that agents had to intervene to clear the Sorbonne courtyard.

“This operation, which lasted just a few minutes, was carried out peacefully without incident,” the source said, declining to answer questions about how the students were removed.

The university, one of the oldest in the world, closed its buildings for the day because of peaceful protests. The students sang 'Free Palestine' and demanded that the institution condemn Israel.

Israel imposed a siege on Gaza and organized an air and ground attack in which at least 34,488 Palestinians were killed, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel's actions came in response to an attack in southern Israel on October 7 by militants from the Palestinian group Hamas, in which 253 people were taken hostage and around 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli calculations.

Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot, who leads the left-wing LFI group of parliamentarians in the National Assembly, called on supporters on social media to join the protests at the Sorbonne.