Students in Paris lead protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza

PARIS

In a show of solidarity with Palestine, students at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University gathered on Tuesday onto the campus grounds to protest the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Under the banner "Stop the genocide in Gaza," the students voiced their demands for an immediate cease-fire and an end to systematic violence against the Palestinian people.

Gathering at the university campus located in the 13th district of Paris, known locally as Tolbiac, the students expressed their staunch support for Palestine.

Carrying Palestinian flags on campus, the students chanted slogans including "(French President Emmanuel) Macron may not want it, but we’re here for the honor of Palestine and for those who have been killed."

"Today we are organizing a protest against the genocide in Gaza for Palestine," Matheo, a history student who did not want to give his last name, told Anadolu.

He said they started the demonstration on campus to react to Israel's actions and "to protest the pressure on French universities speaking out against the genocide in Gaza.”

Matheo said they held a similar protest last October, but the school administration prevented it by taking Palestinian flags from the students' hands, adding that students also have the right to speak about what is happening in Gaza.

On rumors that Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called the school administration to allow the police to enter campus, Matheo said the police removed some tents and "dragged some protesters on the ground."

Matheo said some students came out of the school injured during yesterday's demonstration, adding: "It’s not normal to be oppressed in a country that talks about freedom of expression and freedom of demonstration."

"Those who still think Israel is right should be ashamed," Matheo said, adding that they will continue their protests as long as necessary. "Those who still think Israel is right should be ashamed."

Matheo said he finds it abnormal that all universities in Gaza have been destroyed.

"It is not normal for the number of people killed in the West Bank today to exceed a thousand," he said.

"It is not normal for people, pregnant women, and children to be amputated without painkillers, for doctors to see their own children die, and for journalists to be targeted by Zionists with their children and families for reporting events," he added.

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack led by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, with thousands of others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.