The prestigious Paris-based university Sciences Po was the subject of the day on Wednesday, March 13, even at the Council of Ministers. Speaking to his cabinet, President Emmanuel Macron denounced "unspeakable and utterly intolerable" remarks made in the wake of an unannounced pro-Palestinian student demonstration on the school's premises in Paris.

The autonomy of higher education establishments "in no way justifies the slightest hint of separatism," declared government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot after the cabinet meeting.

A student from the Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF) was "prevented from entering the amphitheater" and "accusatory remarks were made" about the organization, Sciences Po said in a statement posted on the social media platform X. "Don't let her in, she's a Zionist," were the remarks reported by the UEJF on X on Tuesday evening.

According to Thevenot, Minister of Higher Education Sylvie Retailleau heard from witnesses and visited the site on Tuesday, inviting "the young student who was the victim of these remarks (...) to appear before the courts." Aurore Bergé, the minister in charge of equality between women and men, wrote on X that "what happened has a name: anti-Semitism."

The controversy continued to swell throughout the day on Wednesday, amplified by the morning announcement that the school's director, Mathias Vicherat, had resigned after learning that he and his ex-partner had been referred to a criminal court for acts of domestic violence.

On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, accompanied by Retailleau, made a statement to the Board of Directors of Sciences Po's governing body "to reiterate their concern about these issues and their great determination," as Retailleau's entourage told Le Monde. They added that the government had reported "the disturbances" of the previous day to prosecutors.

"I think the French people are very strongly wondering a kind of slope, a drift linked to an active and dangerous minority at Sciences Po," said Attal, as sources present told Le Monde. The prime minister added that the provisional administrator, who will be appointed shortly, will have to "reverse this slope to ensure that the republican principle is respected always and everywhere."

What exactly happened on March 12 in the Emile-Boutmy lecture hall, during the protest action by the Palestine Committee of Sciences Po Paris? The versions are contradictory. The unannounced mobilization, attended by around a hundred students, was prompted by a call from the University Coordination Against Colonization in Palestine, a network presenting itself as made up of researchers, teacher-researchers and students committed "to putting an end to the genocidal war and colonization in Palestine."

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