Surveillance of Sciences Po students critical of Israel shows free speech rings hollow in France

Surveillance of Sciences Po Students Critical of Israel Shows Free Speech Rings Hollow in France

Rightly or wrongly, common people once praised France as the most democratic country in the West. They claimed it valued the right to protest and was tolerant of freedom of speech or opinion. However, that designation has proven hollow. The country's police suppression of students protesting Israel's brutality against Palestinians in Gaza has proven that France is subservient to Israel like many other Western countries.

Mediapart, a local investigative outlet, said on Monday that the administration of French university Sciences Po (Institute of Political Studies) in Paris used unprecedented surveillance methods against students involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations. Citing several internal disciplinary files, Mediapart said students were monitored on social media, photographed without their knowledge, and observed during gatherings to collect evidence for disciplinary proceedings.

The report by Mediapart is not surprising as France has proven in practice that it does not allow protests when it comes to Israel's crimes against Palestinians, claiming that protestors have anti-Semitic tendencies without presenting any evidence. It is not just France that suppresses protests against Israel's brutalities. Other self-proclaimed defenders of human rights in the Western world suppressed students who were protesting Israel's savagery in Gaza.

Police raids against students in Sciences Po, one of the key campuses of pro-Palestine mobilization in France, were recurrent at the beginning of Israel's genocidal war in Gaza. Students participating in demonstrations were threatened they should stop protests or they face punishment including expulsions. Middle East Eye reported on May 13, 2026 that 76 students who had taken part in a protest on campus were violently arrested by the police.

The students were handed €400 fixed fines and criminal records for 'entering a school with the intent to disturb the peace or good order of the institution'. Rokhaya Diallo, a human rights activist; François Burgat, a political scientist specializing in the Middle East and political Islam; Philippe Marliere, a political scientist; Robi Morder, a political scientist specializing in student movements; Vincent Geisser, a CNRS researcher on the Arab and Islamic worlds; Jean-François Bayart, a historian of politics; and organizations such as the Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH) along with UN special rapporteurs have been among those criticizing French authorities' handling of pro-Palestinian expression, including student protests.

For example, Philippe Marliere from the University College London, in a 2024 Middle East Eye piece, called police interventions to clear peaceful student occupations at Sciences Po and the Sorbonne a serious attack on freedom of expression. Also, the LDH (and partners like the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) issued statements condemning police repression of student occupations at Sciences Po and the Sorbonne (e.g., 2026 actions against the Yadan bill and broader crackdowns), noting violence, fines, and a context of restricting solidarity with Palestine that raises concerns about freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

Monitoring operation Sciences Po has degraded its prestige and that of France that lectures the world about freedom of opinion and the right to protest. Mediapart said since 2024, at least 48 students have been subjected to disciplinary investigations. The investigation identified Pierre Catalan, then-director of student life at the university, as a central figure in the monitoring operation. Students interviewed by Mediapart accused Catalan of collecting detailed information about members of the Palestine Committee and helping identify participants during campus blockades.

The report also said that Catalan created a fake social media account under a pseudonym to monitor student activists. Photographs taken from students' Instagram accounts and information from their academic records were also used in disciplinary files.

Like other countries, France uses anti-Semitism designation to demonize those who are seeing Israel's brutalities against Palestinians. Professor Helene Landemore is right who has explicitly described the current state of French democracy as 'pretty terrible'. France's monitoring of students opposed to Israel's behavior against Palestinians are similar to what dictatorial regimes do against their own citizens who are critical of their officials' management of their country.

Summarily speaking, this act by Sciences Po, which claims it is a selective research university of international standing based on the values of openness and excellence, is a clear example of the inquisition of dissenting opinion. Its surveillance of students critical of Israel shows that freedom of opinion and expression rings hollow in France.