The Defense Committee of Paris 8 is Formed in Saint-Denis, France
On Wednesday, November 5, the Defense Committee of Paris 8 was established during an important General Assembly attended by over 250 students, according to La Cause du Peuple (LCDP).
On October 15, a significant anti-imperialist mobilization took place at the University of Paris 8 in Saint-Denis, gathering more than 300 participants and numerous organizations, as we previously reported:
Following this powerful display of anti-imperialism by the students, which originated from an international call made by the Fédération Syndicale Étudiante (FSE), a wave of repression was unleashed against the students, particularly affecting FSE members. LCDP reports that several students have been summoned by different university bodies, with some of them not even present at the event. The Minister of Higher Education and Research, Philippe Baptiste, has ordered these measures. FSE students have been summoned or suspended for denouncing professors who are rapers or simply for recording an event.
LCDP also reports a growing militarization, where security guards prevent anyone without a student ID or those with administrative issues from entering. The FSE called for a general assembly in light of this situation, with support from numerous organizations. University institutions attempted to halt this assembly by threatening the FSE; however, 250 students gathered and founded the “Defense Committee of Paris 8”, committing to keep the university “open for everyone”, to “defend democratic rights against repression,” and to “defend Palestine and reject the criminalization of its supporters.”
The following day, the students circumvented the security guards’ measures and entered the university without IDs, holding a protest and staging a blockade in the early hours of November 12, just as a fellow FSE member was summoned by the Ministry for reserving the room for the assembly that took place on the 5th.
La Cause du Peuple is the source of all the images used in this article.
