Justice authorizes conference in support of Gaza with Rima Hassan at Paris-Dauphine University

“@Paris_Dauphine, see you soon,” Rima Hassan wrote on social media on Saturday. X (formerly Twitter) in a message accompanied, among other things, by a Palestinian flag. Administrative justice has decided to sanction a conference with a Franco-Palestinian activist at the University of Paris-Dauphine, which the institution’s leadership had initially banned, according to an order made public on Saturday.

“There are grounds to suspend the execution of the decision of April 22, 2024 and to order the University of Paris-Dauphine to put an end to the attacks on freedom of assembly (…), allowing the Palestinian Dauphine Committee to organize the planned conference, either on the date and on the originally planned conditions or on the date and on the conditions determined by the parties “, details the decision of the Paris administrative court, which was brought by two higher education unions, Sud Éducation and Ferc-CGT.

The meeting, titled “Tackling the threat of genocide in the Gaza Strip,” was originally scheduled for Monday, May 6. Organized by the Palestinian Dauphine Committee, it welcomed in particular Rima Hassan, a candidate for the European elections from the LFI list, who was touched by the ban on social networks.

“Guaranteed safety for everyone”

The management of Paris Dauphine, a Parisian institution known in particular for its training in management, finance and economics, stressed the “risk of disruption to public order” and the need to “guarantee the safety of everyone” to ban the conference. She also said the topic of the meeting would go beyond “the establishment’s missions or would likely challenge its neutrality.”

The student movement in support of the Palestinian cause is sparking public debate, although at this stage it is essentially limited to the Parisian scientific institutes and the institutes of political studies in the provinces. Some of these establishments have been the subject of well-publicized closures or outages in recent days.

Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailo on Thursday asked university presidents to ensure public “policing” on their campuses. She also asked for a “pluralism of opinion” to be “guaranteed” within universities.