Emmanuel Macron spoke about the demonstrations at universities in France.
Photo: KEYSTONE/EPA/MOHAMMED BADRA
Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘with the greatest firmness’ the blockades at Sciences Po and in universities of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, actions which ‘prevent debate’, he judges in an interview with La Provence and La Tribune Dimanche. .
‘I understand very well that what is happening today, particularly in Gaza, is upsetting – France is also calling for an immediate ceasefire – but preventing debate has never helped resolve a conflict. ‘, underlines the head of state.
Emmanuel Macron finds it ‘completely legitimate and even healthy and reassuring that our youth can say that international news affects them and that they debate it’, but ‘order an establishment to have this or that policy by force and blocking, preventing other students from accessing an amphitheater on the pretext that they are Jewish, this is not the Republic,’ he insists.
The president is therefore ‘in favor’ of the evacuation by the police of blocked universities ‘at the request of the establishments’. According to him, the students who block the establishments are ‘politicized.
Some groups, such as La France insoumise, considered that this was a relevant way of waging the fight. It is simply counterproductive and unacceptable that, in the name of their struggles, they prevent debate,’ he said.
The police evacuated pro-Palestinian activists from Sciences Po Paris on Friday, quickly putting an end to the occupation of the prestigious establishment.
Several gatherings and blockades have taken place in recent days on Sciences Po sites and in universities, in some cases leading to the intervention of the police, echoing an ongoing mobilization on several campuses in the United States.
/ATS
