Student Protestors At University Of Lausanne Continue Pro-Palestine Sit-In

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) 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.

+ Read more: our coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian war

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.

This content was published on Nov 20, 2023 The Kunsthalle Basel is defending its newly chosen director, who signed letters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

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

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here , and if you have feedback on this news story please write to ... .

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

I consent to the use of my data for the SWI swissinfo newsletter.

• Israeli-Palestinian war spills into Swiss art world

This content was published on May 5, 2024 The head of the Swiss Football League says he prefers a harsher approach to individual hooligans rather than collective punishment measures affecting all fans.

This content was published on May 5, 2024 The Swiss government emphasised on Sunday the vital role of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, 75 years after it was founded.

This content was published on May 5, 2024 Bern can count on the backing of Italy as it re-enters talks with the European Union on future relations, Viola Amherd says.

This content was published on May 4, 2024 Pope Francis has received Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd for a 25-minute audience at the Vatican.

This content was published on May 4, 2024 Swiss public broadcasters RTS and SRF are drastically reducing their communications via the social network X (formerly Twitter).

This content was published on May 4, 2024 From June 16, the Indian airline will fly between Zurich and New Delhi.

This content was published on May 4, 2024 Luciana Vaccaro, president of Swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities, is not in favour of an academic boycott of Israeli universities.

This content was published on May 3, 2024 The new facility is improving production capacity in addition to creating a dozen new jobs.

This content was published on May 3, 2024 Brian was involved in a fight with another man, with whom he has been feuding for some time, say police.

This content was published on May 3, 2024 Perceptions of discrimination were associated with problems in health, relationship and avoidance of certain situations.

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at ... .

MENAFN05052024000210011054ID1108175442

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.