Naples Uni rectorate occupied by anti-Israel protesters

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 8 - A group of students on Monday occupied the rectorate of Naples Federico II University to protest against a call for proposals by the foreign ministry for scientific cooperation with Israel, the latest in a series of such protests at Italian universities.
    "Today Federico II and its dean Matteo Lorito were woken up in this way," said the Rete Studentesca per la Palestina (Student Network for Palestine) group.
    "We decided to take hard-hitting action by occupying the rectorate offices as has already happened in Rome, Turin and Bologna.
    "We are tired of walking through our universities while lie after lie is told, while places of knowledge are militarized on the one hand - legitimizing a language of war that is more than worrying - and depoliticized (on the other)." The Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa's academic senate recently requested the call for proposals to be reconsidered following protests over the impact on the civilian population of Gaza of Israel's war against Hamas sparked by the terrorist attacks of October 7.
    That came after Turin university's academic senate announced the decision not to take part in the same call for proposals after pro-Palestinian left-wing collectives occupied its premises.
    Following that decision and the de-platforming of La Repubblica editor Maurizio Molinari at the Federico II University a few days earlier, Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, sounded the alarm at anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment at Italian universities.
    "Every red line has now been crossed and concern about the university situation is overflowing," she said. (ANSA).