'Students want peace': Gaza protests continue outside Paris Panthéon
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00:00 For the very latest, we can cross to France 24's Delano de Souza.
00:03 Delano, we were hearing from that student, but can you tell us a little more about what
00:07 happened this morning at Sciences Po?
00:10 Well, basically, Alison, last night, yesterday, what happened was we had Sciences Po that
00:18 arranged a town hall with its students.
00:21 And one of the main demands of students was to arrange a working group, to set up this
00:25 working group which would investigate the school's financial relationship with Israeli
00:31 companies as well as investigate the school's ties with Israeli universities.
00:38 That was a no-go for Sciences Po's administration, and which is why 91 students decided to stay
00:45 just sitting at one of Sciences Po's main buildings.
00:48 This morning, the administration met with school students and told them they had 20
00:54 minutes to leave the premises or the French gendarmes would be called in and would physically
00:59 have to remove them from the building.
01:01 What happened was we had a first group of students who voluntarily came out, and then
01:07 we had tens of gendarmes who went into that building.
01:11 They pushed journalists out of the way so we couldn't exactly see how exactly they were
01:16 brought out of the school.
01:18 But what they did tell us was that they will continue to stage these sit-ins at Sciences
01:24 Po, occupy buildings, because the administrators at Sciences Po are simply not willing to listen
01:31 to them, and it's not a dialogue that is taking place.
01:35 And Delano, you're in front of the Pantheon now.
01:37 It looks like a pretty big crowd around you.
01:39 Tell us more about what's going on there and what you're expecting to happen.
01:46 That's right.
01:47 We're in front of the Pantheon right now.
01:48 As you can see, it's a very loud crowd who have gathered, which include a bunch of students
01:53 from across France.
01:55 Now I'm here with Luke.
01:57 Luke, thank you for speaking to us.
01:59 You're an 18-year-old university student.
02:01 Why are you here?
02:02 Well, we're here today.
02:03 I am representing UNEF.
02:05 But all students are here for a ceasefire against the genocide that's happening in Palestine
02:10 committed by Israel.
02:12 And we are here for peace.
02:14 We are here for the ceasefire.
02:16 This is students all over the country have been mobilized, have come in masses, whether
02:20 it be in France, in Lyon, in loads of universities in France.
02:25 Students want peace.
02:26 Students want a ceasefire.
02:27 And that's why we are here today.
02:30 A lot of heads of state, including the U.S. president last night, said that certain students
02:37 don't feel their voices are heard.
02:39 For example, Jewish students cannot express themselves.
02:43 What do you say to that?
02:44 Well, I know that a lot of Jewish students are here presently.
02:47 And generally, we are not trying to repress any speech.
02:50 We are just here for peace and for freeing the Palestinian people who are currently under
02:56 genocide and occupation in Palestine by Israel.
02:59 And we aren't here to repress any-- whether you be Jewish or anything else, you are welcome
03:08 if you are here for peace and for the ceasefire.
03:10 Now you are calling for a ceasefire.
03:12 A lot of students here are calling for a ceasefire.
03:15 But the French government has also called for a ceasefire.
03:17 So are you saying that the French government is not listening or is saying one thing and
03:22 doing something else?
03:23 Well, the French government is still trying to support the Israeli government.
03:27 They haven't cut all help to the government.
03:30 And then with the Iranian missile attacks, the French government did send military support.
03:37 And we just think this is unacceptable.
03:40 For example, last week at the Sorbonne next to here, students were exposed by force by
03:46 the police, by the prime minister himself, Gabriel Attal, called for the police to come
03:51 into the university and violently remove students peacefully protesting.
03:56 What do you make of the fact that the government is taking the zero-tolerance approach when
04:01 it comes to protests that are peaceful and these sit-ins that are peaceful for the most
04:07 part?
04:08 I think it's completely unacceptable, obviously, because if we even just look at the Constitution
04:12 or the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the French fundamental text of French law, they
04:17 say that we have the freedom to expression, the freedom to show ourselves, to protest.
04:22 And the government is clearly breaching these freedoms violently, whether it be with tear
04:26 gas or with police charges.
04:28 It's completely unacceptable because we are allowed to express ourselves, and the government
04:32 just doesn't want that.
04:34 Thank you very much.
04:35 So there you can hear a lot of students are clearly out here to get attention to their
04:41 cause, to really pressure the French government to call for a ceasefire.
04:44 And one of the last points that Luke mentioned was about the freedom to express themselves.
04:50 Earlier this morning, I spoke to some Sciences Po students who were in that sit-in at that
04:55 building, and they told me that when they voluntarily walked out, they had to show their
05:01 ID papers to the French Rondowns.