French president condemns pro-Palestinian students’ blockades in universities

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the closure of campus entrances at top universities by pro-Palestinian students protesting Israeli attacks on Gaza, Anadolu news agency reported.

In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche and La Provence dailies, Macron condemned “with the utmost firmness” the blockades of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at universities.

While students accusing the French government of being hypocritical on Gaza continue their protests, Macron said he finds it “legitimate, healthy and reassuring for young people to express that they are affected by international events and discuss them on this issue.”

He said he was in favor of security forces evacuating the protesting students “if requested by the university administrations.”

Amid continuing pro-Palestine protests in US, support for Palestine is being shown in many universities in France.

Students at Sciences Po, one of France’s leading universities, are organising demonstrations to protest the situation in Gaza and give a message of solidarity with Palestine.

Future politicians and leading figures of the country are trained in Sciences Po schools, which are located in Paris and other major French cities, with admission gained through a special exam.

France’s Sorbonne University is also seeing demonstrations in support of Palestine.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since the 7 October Hamas incursion, which killed around 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and wounded 77,700 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian Territory.

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

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

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