Students in Paris mobilize to protest Gaza 'genocide', stop academic collaboration with Israel

By Hafsa Alami

PARIS (AA) – Commemorating 76 years of Nakba, students from different universities in Paris gathered on Wednesday at the Sorbonne Square to denounce Israeli actions in Gaza, and the alleged complicity of imperialist powers.

Protesters also criticized the French government’s position on the conflict, and demanded an end to criminalization of solidarity with the Palestinian people and an academic boycott of Israel.

Student committees organized the mobilization after evacuation of the Sorbonne university encampment last week, and the arrest of 86 students by the police officers.

“We are here to confirm that the Nakba did not end yet and the Palestinians are still suffering because the war did not start on Oct. 7 but 76 years ago,” Sacha, a student at the Sorbonne university, told Anadolu.

Nakba, or catastrophe, refers to the forced removal of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in 1948.

Describing police violence, many students from Sciences Po took part in the protest and spoke out.

Members of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the French National Railway Company (SNCF) also joined the mobilization to show their support to the students.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year which killed about 1,200 people.

More than 35,200 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 79,000 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

In the West Bank, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured since then, along with daily arrest campaigns by the Israeli army.

Israel is accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in the enclave.