PARIS, April 28 – Pro-Palestinian protests have spread on campuses from the U.S. to the UK and France, showing solidarity with Palestinians and demanding action over Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Dozens of students rallied at University College London (UCL) on Friday, with banners calling it “complicit in genocide” and demanding it “divest from death.”
Chanting “no more money for Israel’s crimes” and “London students, it’s our time – shut it down for Palestine,” UCL students with keffiyehs and Palestinian flags sense a movement gaining momentum after unrest on U.S. campuses has also spread to France.
“There’s lots and lots of support, so we’re really excited about how the movement’s grown,” Rob, a 19-year-old UCL student who declined to give his last name, told The National.
Also on Friday, tensions flared in front of Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po university over the conflict in Gaza, as pro-Israeli protesters came to challenge pro-Palestinian students occupying the building. Police moved in to keep the two groups apart.
Chanting their support for the Palestinians, some students had been occupying a Sciences Po building since the night, displaying Palestinian flags in windows and over the entrance. Several wore the black-and-white keffiyeh head scarf that has become an emblem of solidarity with Gaza.
They demanded the institution condemn Israel’s actions, in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on U.S. campuses.
