Pro-Palestinian students close Sorbonne University in Paris | Israel

Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday, shouting “Free Palestine” at the university’s gates, while some students set up tents in the courtyard.

Days after similar protests at the elite Sciences Po school in Paris, the gathering at the Sorbonne is the latest sign that demonstrations on US campuses are spilling over into Europe in the seventh month of Israel’s devastating war in Gaza.

“It is not possible to enter” the buildings since around noon, writes AFP, citing a statement from the University Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, specifying that “the Sorbonne will be closed this afternoon by decision of the rectory” and that classes and exams were cancelled. Around thirty activists gathered inside the Sorbonne, where nine tents were set up in the courtyard and three in the hall, and a Palestinian flag was placed on the ground, writes the Le Monde.

The protests, which led to the university closing the building for the day, were peaceful as students called on the institution, one of the oldest universities in the world, to condemn Israel’s actions.

Police were on the street near the main entrance, confronting a group of around 50 students, according to a Reuters reporter.

According to Palestinian authorities, Israel killed at least 34,488 Palestinians in Gaza, in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli data.

Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot, who leads the left-wing LFI group of deputies in the National Assembly, called on citizens on social media to join the protests at the Sorbonne.