PARIS – Students in Paris occupied buildings at the Sorbonne University and Sciences Po on Thursday, in protest over the results of the first round of the French presidential election. Incumbent President Emanuel Macron and far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen won the most votes between them on Sunday’s first round, and will face off against each other in the second round run-off due to be held on April 24. The police is present on the local and attacked the students, as well as organized fascists groups that are against the occupation.
The two university campuses have been closed for security reasons, with courses either postponed or being held online. The students have been occupying parts of the university since Wednesday afternoon. A message circulated online by students at the university said they refused to resign themselves to a second duel between “the neoliberal and authoritarian Macron and the proven fascist Le Pen.”
Young people in particular appear to have been disappointed by the election results. Many supported Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a veteran member of the hard-left, who came in narrowly behind Le Pen.Many voters now feel they have to vote for Macron in order to prevent Le Pen from coming to power. Despite that, turnout for the final round is widely predicted to be low.
“We’re afraid that the two candidates will not take into account the issues that we consider crucial such as racist, islamophobic and sexist violence, the climate and the urgent need to act in the face of the IPCC report in particular,” said Martin Labat, a student of sustainability science.
“We are blocking because we are in a political impasse. The candidates qualified for the second round of the presidential election completely ignore our priorities,” he said.
“They are ecological, social justice, feminist and anti-racist priorities. It’s up to us to talk about them”.
