French police raid Paris university campus to evict student protesters
French riot police raided a university in Paris Friday to force out dozens of students who shut down the campus for a month in protest over President Emmanuel Macron's higher education reforms.
Published: 20 April 2018 11:10 CEST
A protester is arrested at the Tolbiac campus, part of the prestigious Sorbonne University, as police break up a protest camp on April 20, 2018, in Paris. Photo: AFP
Around a hundred officers poured into the 22-storey tower dominating the Tolbiac campus on the Left Bank of the Seine, one of several French campuses that students have occupied in an echo of the momentous student revolt of May 1968.
Some of the students tried to flee while others threw bottles and other objects at the police, an AFP journalist at the scene said.
The university chancellor had requested on April 9 that the police intervene to clear the campus, which was occupied on March 26, but they had initially held off, citing security concerns.
The Paris police department said Friday's operation had passed off “without incident”.
Photo: AFP
“We did not resist,” one masked protester told AFP, saying that the around 100 students holed up inside the tower were “tired”.
One person was arrested on charges of “rebellion”.
Students began occupying campuses in March over reforms introduced by Macron that introduce an element of selection for access to basic university degree courses for the first time.
Currently, French students who pass their school-leaving exams can enroll in any three-year degree course at a public university of their choosing.
The government has argued that changes are needed to tackle rampant overcrowding in some courses like law and psychology and bring down a high
student failure rate.
Photo: AFP
But students unions and leftist parties see it as an infringement of the right to education for all.
The Tolbiac campus was one of the flashpoints in the protests, which also drew in Paris's prestigious Sciences Po university — Macron's alma mater —
this week.
The entrance of the site, which was guarded by police Friday, was littered with tables, banners, beer bottles, rubbish bags and other objects.
Interior Minister Gerard Collomb praised the police raid as a “success” and said it would remain closed while being cleaned up.
With end-of-year exams approaching the government had been under pressure to end the strikes and sit-ins, which had shut down four universities and disrupted classes at several others.
Last week the police were called in to evict protesting students from the famed Sorbonne University, the epicentre of the May 1968 protests.
French Interior Minister asks police to ban pro-Palestinian Paris protest
France's interior minister on Thursday asked police to ban a pro-Palestinian protest in Paris this weekend over the conflict with Israel fearing a repeat of clashes during a similar situation in 2014.
Published: 14 May 2021 09:22 CEST
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin asked the Paris police chief to ban the protests on Saturday linked to the recent tensions in the Middle East. Photo: Guillaume HORCAJUELO POOL / AFP
Activists had called the protest in the Barbès district of northern Paris to demonstrate against Israel’s use of force in the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket fire by militant group Hamas at the Jewish state.
“I have asked the Paris police chief to ban the protests on Saturday linked to the recent tensions in the Middle East,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.
A Paris, j’ai demandé au Préfet de police d’interdire les manifestations de samedi en lien avec les récentes tensions au Proche-Orient. De graves troubles à l’ordre public furent constatés en 2014. Consigne a été donnée aux Préfets d’être particulièrement vigilants et fermes.
“Serious disturbances to public order were seen in 2014,” he added, urging police chiefs elsewhere in France to also remain vigilant over demonstrations.
In a circular seen by AFP, he also urged local police chiefs to assure the “protection of places of worship, schools, cultural centres and businesses of the Jewish community.”
Several demonstrations took place in France during July 2014 to denounce an Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
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