French students involved in pro-Palestinian activism say they have faced arrests, fines, disciplinary proceedings and police intervention during demonstrations against Israel's war in Gaza.
Students in Paris organized large protests on university campuses in 2024 and 2025 against Israel's attacks on Gaza, which participants described as genocide. Several demonstrations drew international media attention after police intervened, while some students were detained, fined, referred to disciplinary bodies and reported to prosecutors.
At a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Sorbonne University in May 2024, 88 activists, including students, were detained.
More recently, students staged protests in Paris on April 14 against the proposed Yadan bill, which they said would punish anti-Zionist activism on university campuses. Participants said four students were detained and more than 70 others were fined 400 euros ($464) each. The bill was withdrawn on April 16.
In interviews with Anadolu, students described what they said was growing pressure on pro-Palestinian activism.
"We can now see that the state is trying to attack us financially rather than through detentions, as it did one or two years ago," said Rania, a French student and member of the Sorbonne University Palestine Committee.
Rania said violence against students participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations continued and that police could stop and detain students without difficulty.
She said fines imposed after the April 14 protest exceeded 35,000 euros.
According to Rania, students are calling on universities to sever ties with companies and Israeli universities that they believe are complicit in what they describe as genocide in Gaza.
She alleged that Sorbonne University cooperates with French arms companies and Israeli universities that support military activities.
Rania said students also want France to end cooperation with those entities and address obstacles facing Gazan students seeking to continue their education in the country.
"I don't think there are other issues facing this level of repression, at least during my lifetime," she said.
"Even police entering universities and detaining students could be considered a historic event because there is really no precedent for it."
"For the first time, students are facing this much pressure for a cause that everyone should fundamentally defend," she added.
Sofia, a member of the Student Union Federation, said students organized the April 14 protest at Sorbonne University to oppose what they viewed as the anti-freedom Yadan bill.
"This is full cooperation with this genocidal state," Sofia said of the proposal.
She said the demonstration lasted more than six hours before police entered the university.
"The police violently removed students, hit them, and there were racist attacks," Sofia said.
She also alleged that officers photographed students' identity cards and threatened detention when students refused to provide addresses or phone numbers.
Despite the pressure, Sofia said students would continue campaigning against partnerships between French universities and arms companies.
"We will continue to fight for the freedom of the Palestinian people despite the repression and despite universities being completely complicit," she said.
Sofia also said an 18-year-old Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University student named Teba was taken to court by her university after removing from a class social media group people who followed the Israeli army's account.
"They accuse her of antisemitism, even though the only thing she did was reject Zionism," Sofia said.
Ibrahim, a member of Communist Youth, said students organized two demonstrations at Sorbonne University this year, two weeks apart.
"The police acted in an extremely repressive manner," Ibrahim said of the response to the first protest.
He said some students had been referred to disciplinary boards for displaying Palestinian flags on university stairways and posting pro-Palestinian posters on campus.
"This reflects the environment we are currently living in," Ibrahim said.
"University administrations, the bourgeois state and an extremely repressive police force are working hand in hand to silence all voices speaking out against the genocide in Palestine and for Palestinian freedom."
