Paris' Sciences Po school rejects protesters' demand to review ties with Israel

The townhall was one of the conditions last week for students to call off for now their protests over war in Gaza. Many were also asking for the university to cut all ties with Israel, and Basseres said he was aware that refusing to hold such a working group could anger some protesters.

Paris' Sciences Po university has rejected demands by protesters to set up a working group to review its relations with Israeli universities, its interim director Jean Basseres told reporters on Thursday, following a townhall with students and staff. The townhall was one of the conditions last week for students to call off for now their protests over war in Gaza.

Many were also asking for the university to cut all ties with Israel, and Basseres said he was aware that refusing to hold such a working group could anger some protesters. "I'm calling on all to show a sense of responsibility," he said, urging all to allow exams to go on.

The elite political sciences university would work on how best to organise internal debate on major topics, he said. "The last ties that should be severed are the ones between universities," said Arancha Gonzalez, who heads Science Po's School of International Affairs. The university already has rules to review partnerships, she added.

Students at several French universities, including Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Lille and Lille's journalism school, have blocked or occupied their institutes in the wake of rallies in campuses across the United States against the conflict. On Monday, French police moved in to clear dozens of protesters who had set up tents in a courtyard at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

However, those protests in France and elsewhere in Europe have not reached the same scale as seen in the United States.

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