"Supporting Palestine is not a crime," read a banner at Sciences Po Toulouse, as students there began to protest demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, on Tuesday, April 30, in a demonstration at their establishment. Most of France's institutes of political studies (IEP) were disrupted by student general assemblies and rallies, as in Lyon, and even blockades, as in Rennes, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and Strasbourg, in the wake of actions taken the previous day at the Sorbonne in Paris.

On Monday, at the request of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who wanted "a rapid reaction," police had intervened promptly to dislodge the students who had pitched tents in the main courtyard of the prestigious Parisian university.

Since the first encampment was set up in the inner courtyard of Sciences Po Paris on April 24 – evacuated that night by the police – and echoing the movement underway at Columbia University in New York, the movement in support of the Gazan people has gained momentum in France, although it is essentially confined to the IEPs and a few universities.

The Menton campus of Sciences Po Paris – which has seven campuses outside of Paris – was occupied until the early hours of Tuesday morning by around 30 students who had decorated the facade with a Palestinian flag. In a message to students, campus director Youssef Halaoua announced his decision to close the premises "until further notice" and to switch courses to distance learning.

"We want Sciences Po to apply the rhetoric of the International Court of Justice [which, at the end of January, called on Israel to prevent possible acts of genocide] and the UN, to put an end to the dual approach we are witnessing regarding [on the one hand] the Ukraine-Russia war [and, on the other, Israel's war in Gaza], and to take a firm stance on all the discrimination and pressure students face," the students, meeting at a general assembly in Menton, wrote in a statement.

In another branch of Sciences Po Paris, at its campus in Reims, students were due to decide on Tuesday evening whether to re-occupy the premises at the end of the week. The move would depend on whether the debate organized on Thursday by the provisional administrator, Jean Bassères, fails to meet their expectations.

This town hall-style meeting was announced following negotiations between the university leadership and the students occupying Sciences Po on April 26. It will be structured as a time for exchanges between students, professors, researchers and employees, where "all questions can be asked" about the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The university has provided train tickets for four students from each of the seven campuses to attend. Those from Menton are no longer invited, due to the overnight occupation, Sciences Po said.

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