Graffiti and hostile slogans from pro-Palestinian demonstrators to protest against the arrival of Yaël Braun-Pivet at the University of Lyon-III

The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, was targeted on Friday November 8 by graffiti and hostile slogans from pro-Palestinian activists opposed to her coming to Lyon-III University, but finally exchanged calmly with students.

“I suggested to these young people who didn’t want me to have a dialogue. They did not want it, they preferred violent action”she regretted at the end of her visit, stressing that she wanted “always favor dialogue”.

“We are in a democracy, the President of the National Assembly that I am must be able to go anywhere in the territory (…) This is my role and I will never give up”she added.

“Yaël get out of there”, “Genocidal, outside our universities”, « Free Gaza » or « Free Palestine » : several messages in large letters had been sprayed overnight near the campus. Some were quickly deleted.

Around 200 demonstrators continued on the same register in the afternoon before the arrival of the Macronist MP, chanting “Criminal Israel, Yaël complicit” or “Yaël, get out of there, Lyon-III is not yours”.

“Fascist drift”

The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, denounced on “fascist drift of activists who exploit the tragedy experienced by the Palestinians”. “Total support for Yaël Braun-Pivet, whom far-left demonstrators with anti-Semitic ideas want to ban from a university. The Republic is at home everywhere”wrote the minister (Les Républicains).

His colleague from higher education, Patrick Hetzel, for his part condemned “with force the anti-Semitic insults uttered against Yaël Braun-Pivet and the unacceptable actions of groups of students occurring at Lyon-III”. “My firmness against anti-Semitism and any form of political exploitation of the university is total”he reacted on X.

In a short press release, cited by Agence France-Presse, the University of Lyon-III condemned “with the greatest firmness the unacceptable and scandalous inscriptions which have been tagged” and announced that he had taken legal action. According to the university team, video surveillance images show, shortly after midnight, five authors of these inscriptions, dressed in dark clothes, hooded and hooded, including a young girl.

“Cry of anger”

Yaël Braun-Pivet was traveling in the Rhône on Friday as part of the policy of opening Parliament. Several left-wing organizations, including the Solidaires Etudiant-es unions and the National Union of Students of France (Unef) or the local section of Jeunes Insoumis.es, denounced her coming to Lyon-III, describing her in a press release as “prominent figure of unconditional support for the criminal actions of the Israeli state”.

“While the deaths caused by Israel's operations number in the tens of thousands (…) Yaël Braun-Pivet once again dared to defend the delivery of weapons to a criminal state »highlight the signatories of the press release.

On October 6, on BFM-TV, M^me Braun-Pivet had declared that he “Israel should not be disarmed”in reaction to statements by Emmanuel Macron calling for an end to deliveries of weapons used to carry out fighting in Gaza.

The demonstration against his visit is “a cry of anger against the government’s support for Israel”explained Timothée Martin-Brossat, from the Student Union, who also came to express his dissatisfaction with the precariousness of students.

In a tense atmosphere, the local of the right-wing student union Union nationale inter-universitaire (UNI) was fractured. Outside the university, around ten people showed up with signs displaying “Have you become accustomed to anti-Semitism? Not us! » or “Anti-Semitism is a crime”.