The situation became particularly tense yesterday on the campus located in the west of the azure capital.
Firmly opposed to the pension reform, the Carlone Campus has been regularly paralyzed for several weeks due to the strong mobilization of its students. On Tuesday, March 28, on the occasion of the tenth day of mobilization against the contentious reform, a new blockade of the campus was organized.
While the demonstration could have proceeded without incident in a calm atmosphere, about ten individuals (some wearing masks) rushed in attempting to unblock access to the campus. Quickly, the situation escalated, leading to clashes between the demonstrators and this group of opponents. Outnumbered, the students who came to unblock the campus left the scene after a few punches were exchanged. According to some sources and witnesses of the scene, they were from the National Inter-University Union, a student party linked to the far-right.
Jean Moucheboeuf, head of Reconquête in the Alpes-Maritimes, defended this group through a statement shared with the press. According to him, it was the students already present at the blockade who were responsible for the violent outbreaks. “Deeply committed to protecting academic freedoms and the freedom to study, right-wing youth movements have opposed for years the hostage-taking of higher education institutions by far-left thugs. Some students mobilized to try to enable those who wished to access classes. In light of the unacceptable violence triggered by the ‘blockers,’ we appeal to the president of the University of Côte d’Azur, Mr. Jeanick Brisswalter, to end the impunity of these active minorities and restore order and calm across all campuses in Nice…”
An easy link can be made between this action and the controversy that occurred a few weeks ago with the prohibition of Stanislas Rigault’s (a close associate of Eric Zemmour) conference at the Law Faculty of the Campus.
The police arrived on site after the skirmishes. The vice-president of the university decided to close the campus for the day. On Wednesday, March 29, a new blockade was organized, which took place without any new tensions.
