Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Paris police on Friday removed dozens of students staging a pro-Palestine sit-in at Sciences Po university.
About 90 students had been occupying the entrance hall to the research university, mirroring Gaza war protests at universities and colleges around the globe.
Authorities at the Paris university closed its main buildings in response to the sit-in and classes were held remotely. The protest began after interim administrator, Jean Basseres, refused their demands to investigate Science Po's ties with Israeli institutions.
It followed protests at universities in the UK and US, where students camped out on campuses to demand a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza.
About 90 students were still inside the Rue Saint-Guillaume site when police arrived.
Bastien, 22, said he was among the protesters brought out in groups of 10 by officers. Another student, Lucas, who is studying for a master's degree, said "some students were dragged and others gripped by the head or shoulders".
Students from the Palestine committee at Sciences Po said they faced a "disproportionate" response from police, who blocked access to the site before moving in. Protesters also complained of a lack of "medical assistance" for seven students who started a hunger strike to show solidarity for people in Gaza.
Almost 100 people had occupied the foyer of the central Paris building, students said.
The previous day, around 100 students occupied a lecture hall at Sciences Po's Lyon campus, while a blockade at a university site in nearby Saint-Etienne was cleared by police on Thursday morning.
The university had given the group 20 minutes to leave before the forcible evacuation on Friday as exams are due to be held on Monday.
"The chief of police deployed law enforcement to evacuate the Sciences Po site," Paris police headquarters said in a statement.
"91 people were removed without incident."
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's office said such protests would be dealt with using "total rigour", adding that 23 university sites were "evacuated" on Thursday.
Sciences Po is widely considered to be the top political science school in France, with President Emmanuel Macron among its former students. Demonstrations have been held at its sites across the country to protest against the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Protests have been slow to spread to other prominent universities in France, in contrast to the US, where demonstrations at about 40 institutions have at times led to clashes with police and mass arrests.
Demonstrations have so far been more peaceful in France, which is home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the US. France also has one of Europe's largest Muslim communities.
The University of California, Los Angeles, held remote classes on Friday after police cleared a protest camp on the campus and arrested more than 200 people.
In the UK, Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said on Thursday that protesters in the country should face “an extremely strict response” if they tried to replicate what she described as “disgusting” scenes in the US, where more than 2,000 students have been arrested amid protests against the Gaza war.
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Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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- Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire and previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina
- Petr Fradkov, head of recently sanctioned Promsvyazbank and son of former head of Russian Foreign Intelligence, the FSB.
- Denis Bortnikov, Deputy President of Russia's largest bank VTB. He is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with banned chemical agent novichok.
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corporation, a major aircraft manufacturer for the Russian military.
- Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva, chair of the board of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
