Universities in France, Australia, Canada see Gaza protests

Campus protests spreading beyond US, but demonstrations take place peacefully

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Protests over the Gaza war are sprouting in prominent universities across the world including France and Australia, although at a slower rate compared with in the US, where demonstrations at around 40 facilities have at times spiralled into clashes with police and mass arrests.

Police in Paris entered France's prestigious Sciences Po university on May 3 and removed many of the dozens of student activists who had occupied its buildings in protest against Israel's conduct in its war against the Hamas militant group in Gaza.

France is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the US, and to Europe's largest Muslim community.

Unlike in some college campuses across the US, the French protests have been peaceful and there were no signs of violence as the students were brought out of the buildings.

Sciences Po has become the epicentre of French student protests over the war and academic ties with Israel, which have spread across France.

The university was closed for the day on May 3, with a heavy police presence around its main building.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said student protesters had been evacuated from 23 institutions of higher education around the country on May 2.

Sciences Po Lyon, an unaffiliated university in France's third-largest city, and the Lille school of journalism was also blocked by protesting students on May 3, images broadcast by French news channels showed.

Sciences Po's director Jean Basseres on May 2 rejected demands by protesters to review its relations with Israeli universities, prompting protesters to continue their movement with at least one person entering a hunger strike, according to a student speaking on behalf of the protesters.