Paris Police Evacuate Gaza Protest at Sciences Po

Police entered the Sciences Po university in Paris to remove dozens of students staging a pro-Gaza sit-in in the entrance hall as protests fired political debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Demonstrations have struck education institutions in several French cities in recent weeks, echoing the mass Gaza protests that have led to clashes in US universities.

The Paris police headquarters said that "91 people were removed without incident," while Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said such protests would be dealt with using "total rigor".

Sciences Po interim administrator Jean Basseres said he was "conscious of the significance of this difficult decision and the emotion it could spark", adding that "multiple attempts at dialogue did not allow us to avoid it".

The university closed its main buildings in response to the sit-in and called for remote classes instead.

After the evacuation, around 300 people demonstrated on the Pantheon square around 1.5 kilometers from the university in response to a call from student unions.

Sciences Po, widely considered France's top political science school, with alumni including President Emmanuel Macron, has seen student action at its sites across the country in protest against the war in Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.

Protests have been slow to spread to other prominent universities, unlike in the United States -- where demonstrations at around 40 facilities have at times spiraled into clashes with police and mass arrests.

Demonstrations have so far been more peaceful in France, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States and to Europe's largest Muslim community.

Protesters had occupied the entrance hall in a "peaceful sit-in" following a debate on the conflict with administrators that their Palestine Committee dubbed "disappointing".

Law enforcement on Friday removed a dozen students who were blocking the entrance to a university site in nearby Saint-Etienne.