University students on hunger strike in Sciences Po, protests continue

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
3 May 2024 11:08
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Student protests in support of Palestine have erupted at universities across the Americas and Europe, with actions ranging from tent camps and hall occupations to demands for academic boycotts and diplomatic actions against "Israel".

A student protester waves a Palestinian flag above Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York, US. (AP)

Student protests have been escalating and expanding over the past few weeks in the Americas and across several European countries in support of occupied Palestine amid the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian students and activists in Mexico City set up tents in front of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the country's largest university, in solidarity with students protesting in the United States.

Students placed Palestinian flags over their protest camp and chanted slogans such as "Long live a free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

The protesters raised several demands, including that the Mexican government cut diplomatic and trade ties with "Israel".

Protests at University of Lausanne, Switzerland

In Switzerland, dozens of pro-Palestinian students took control of the hall in the Géopolis building of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), demanding an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

Organizers said in a statement that the action "follows the example of mobilization on campuses in Canada, the United States and France."

"Our action is spontaneous and has no leader or leader," they said, explaining that, "The people occupying the university building refuse to be complicit in the colonial genocide perpetrated by the Israeli apartheid regime. We call on everyone to join us, and on members of other universities and colleges to mobilize too."

France's most prestigious universities rise up

France's prestigious Sciences Po University said, in a message to the staff, that it would close its main campus in Paris for one day, Friday, May 3rd, after pro-Palestinian student protesters took control of new buildings on campus.

The university management requested that staff "continue to work from home."

Moreover, a student body committee of pro-Palestinian students announced on Thursday a "peaceful sit-in" at Sciences Po, and that 6 students were starting a hunger strike "in solidarity with Palestinian victims."

In a letter received by its employees on Thursday evening, the human resources department of the Institut des Sciences Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) said the buildings in the center of the French capital would remain closed on Friday, May 3rd.

In a scenario similar to the protests that have rocked several major universities in the United States, pro-Palestinian students at Sciences Po have organized several actions to protest the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The Palestine Committee also demanded that the university administration "clearly condemn Israel's practices" and "end any cooperation" with any institutions and entities accused of involvement in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.

Tensions continue at Columbia University

In the United States, tensions between Columbia University's administration and students protesting "Israel's" aggression against Gaza reached the point where dozens of New York police officers entered the campus to remove a protest camp and arrest protesters who had taken control of Hamilton Hall and renamed it the Hind Hall.

It was the second time in two weeks that the university administration called on the police to contain the protests and disperse protesters. The administration prevented students from entering their classrooms and threatened them with expulsion from the university. Police are now stationed on campus around the clock.

At the University of California-Berkeley, some 4,800 kilometers away, students have further continued to organize their demonstrations without any arrests or disruption of classes.