FRENCH police removed dozens of students from a building at the Paris Institute of Political Studies today who had gathered in support of Palestinians, echoing similar encampments and solidarity demonstrations across the United States.

The French crackdown comes as new student encampments continue to spring up across Australia and elsewhere.

Students at the institute, known as Sciences Po, waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of Gazans, as Israel continued its relentless assault on the enclave.

The Sciences Po building had been occupied since Thursday evening. 

The university administration had closed the main buildings and moved classes online.

Pro-Palestinian students were planning to hold a protest in front of the Pantheon monument, near the elite Sorbonne University, to call for an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

On Thursday, similar protests took place in some other universities across the country, including in Lille and Lyon.

The office of the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, said police had been requested to remove students from 23 sites on French campuses on Thursday and “all were evacuated within a few hours.”

A police presence will be maintained near Sciences Po to prevent any further blockades, it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters have been camped out on university campuses in major Australian cities for the last two weeks.

The students are demanding that universities sever all academic ties with Israel and cut off research partnerships with arms manufacturers.

No arrests were made, as the violence seen on some US campuses has not occurred in Australia.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters today met a counter-protest supporting Israel at the University of Sydney, Australia’s oldest university, leading to a scuffle between the groups.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor Mark Scott said there was space for both groups of protesters.

“We can host that conversation and we should be able to do that in a non-threatening way,” he told ABC.

The violent crackdown and arrests against peaceful student protests at more than 80 campuses across the US continues.

On Thursday morning, hundreds of police officers arrested more than 130 demonstrators as they dismantled a pro-Palestinian protest camp at the University of California at Los Angeles.

At least 34,662 Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis since they launched their retaliation for the October 7 attack launched by Hamas and its allies.

About two-thirds of those killed are reported to be women and children.

During the October 7 attack 1,200 people were killed and some 250 were taken hostage.