why have students been blocking universities for two weeks?

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The Sorbonne Nouvelle, Tolbiac, Clignancourt, L’École des Mines, Dauphine… For several days, Paris universities have been blocked by students in support of Palestine. The unions demand “an end to partnerships with Israeli universities”.

End of partnerships with Israeli universities

It's been soon three weeks that students from the Tolbiac university site, in Paris, are mobilized in front of their university. Since then, several establishments at the Sorbonne and PSL have followed suit to denounce the humanitarian situation in the Middle East. “We want to study so that our skills serve the resolution of the major problems of humanity – the climate emergency, precariousness or even public health – and not the barbarity of capitalism”, recalls the Poing Levé union.

They call into question the partnerships with Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in particular. Several arms companies are also criticized by the unions.

“They often block the elevators. It's still possible to access the amphitheaters [où ont lieu les cours magistraux, ndlr] but not in the small rooms where we did tutorials,” reports Tom, a first year history student at Tolbiac.

“It will resume”

The University of Tolbiac is also shaken by another affair. Tuesday, November 19, on the first day of the university elections, an altercation broke out between students mobilized for the Palestinian cause and those who supported the La Cocarde organization.

From, both camps accuse each other mutual aggression.

“They were planning to stop the blockades in not too long but with this story, it will resume», warns Tom who stays informed every day of new blockages thanks to the faculty's student Instagram group.

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