There were moments of tension at
Rome's La Sapienza University on Tuesday after a group of
leftwing students on Monday occupied the dean's office in
protest at links with Israel and in solidarity with Palestinians
in Gaza.
Trouble broke out between students and police when several young
people attempted to enter the rectorate where a meeting of the
groups that had occupied the building was taking place.
They had said they were occupying the office to denounced the
university's "complicity" with Israel, with its Senate set to
decide on further cooperation with Israel on academic projects
on Tuesday.
"Enough deals with Israeli universities and the war industry,"
said the Cambiare Rotta (Change Course) group.
Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish
Communities, last week expressed concern over the growing
expressions of hatred towards Jews and Israel in Italian
universities amid the war in Gaza sparked by the October 7
massacres by Hamas.
There is "a worrying escalation in universities, with
expressions of hatred towards Israel and Jews that in recent
weeks have reached levels of very serious concern" said Di Segni
in a letter addressed to University Minister Anna Maria Bernini
and the president of the Conference of Italian University
Rectors (CRUI) Giovanna Iannantuoni.
The letter came after Turin University's Academic Senate decided
not to participate in a call for scientific cooperation with
Israel and La Repubblica editor Maurizio Molinari was
de-platformed at a Naples university.
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