Protestors at University of Lausanne continue pro-Palestine sit-in

UNIL students in an occupied campus building on Friday, May 3. Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott

Several hundred people gathered at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) on Saturday in support of students who have been demonstrating for the Palestinian cause.

Since Thursday, a hall on campus has been occupied by students demanding a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. They have been authorised to stay until Monday afternoon, when another meeting with university authorities is to take place.

On Saturday a rally attracted some 400 people to the site, which is decked out with banners and Palestinian flags. The atmosphere was non-confrontational, and participants did not enter the occupied building.

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Between two speeches, participants chanted “Gaza, UNIL is with you” and “Down with Israeli apartheid”.

In a subsequent address, Joseph Daher, a guest professor at UNIL, praised the mobilisation of the students, who he said were “outraged by something that is unacceptable – genocide”.

A second professor, sociologist Olivier Fillieule, also lent support, saying that “the aim of teachers is to make citizens of students”. He called for “total transparency” by the university regarding its cooperation with Israeli institutions, a demand echoed in a letter addressed to UNIL management which staff are being asked to sign.

Fillieule welcomed the attitude of university authorities, who have “at least for the time being” been willing to engage in dialogue – unlike at the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), he said.

The latter is threatening to suspend the “Polyquity” association due to a conference it organised which was deemed to be “biased”.

At the occupied UNIL building, students hold two assemblies a day in order to take decisions, the Keystone-SDA news agency reports. Sofas have been moved to the ground floor, and three small grey tents take pride of place in the atrium. A room with mattresses is used as a dormitory.

Adapted from French by DeepL/dos

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