Protesters chant ‘Free Palestine,’ set up encampment at Paris’s Sorbonne University

PARIS, France — Protesters angry over the Israel-Hamas war take to Paris’s Sorbonne University, chanting “Free Palestine” at the university’s gates while some students set up tents in the courtyard.

Days after similar protests at Paris’s Sciences Po, the gathering at the Sorbonne was the latest sign that demonstrations on US campuses were spilling over to Europe as the devastating war is in its seventh month.

The protests, which led the university to close the building for the day, are peaceful as students urged the institution — one of the world’s oldest universities — to condemn Israel’s actions.

Police are securing the street with the main entrance, facing a group of around 50 students, a Reuters reporter sees.

Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot, who heads the hard-left LFI group of lawmakers in the National Assembly, had called supporters to join the Sorbonne protests on social media.

Pendant ce temps, à la Sorbonne.
La police n’a jamais autant fréquenté les universités que ces derniers jours…
????@CLPRESSFR pic.twitter.com/dOaHmQgyHj

— Marcel (@realmarcel1) April 29, 2024