The dean and a professor at Montpellier University law school were taken into police custody on Wednesday, suspected of taking part in a violent attack on student protesters last week. The two men have since been suspended from their duties.
Student protesters occupied the law school auditorium on March 22 to oppose the “Vidal law”, which for the first time introduces merit-based selection for public universities. Proponents hope to limit drop-outs and lower costs while opponents fear the law will create class barriers to public education.
Around midnight, masked men – armed with planks of wood and batons – beat and dragged the protesters from the premises, slammed the gates behind them and then retreated back into the law school entrance hall, to the applause and congratulations of surrounding faculty members and law students who opposed the protest.
Three students were hospitalised in the clashes.
“I was able to get out quickly. Then I saw school administrators celebrating in the entrance hall. There were 20 or so with the masked men and the dean,” one student, identified only as Camille, told France 3 Television.
“It was totally fascist, they were yelling racist insults [like] ‘dirty arabs’,” said a student interviewed by France 3.
In an interview the day after the incident, dean Philippe Pétel defended the actions of the masked group, referring to them merely as “law students”.
“The students wanted to defend themselves, and I can’t blame them,” he told France 3. “The law students who were there were all against the occupation [of the auditorium] … I am quite proud of my students. I approve totally.”
France’s Higher Education Minister Frédérique Vidal – the mastermind behind the policy that spurred the protests – disagrees.
“The violence committed at the University of Montpellier is unacceptable. The two professors who were taken into custody yesterday as part of the investigation have been suspended,” she tweeted.
Source:
