Sorrow for war but no boycott says Rome uni (5)

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 16 - Rome's La Sapienza University's ruling bodies the Senate and the board of directors on Tuesday voiced sorrow over the Gaza war but rejected students' demands for a boycott of scientific research and other accords with Israel what the students called "genocide" and collaboration with the "Jewish war industry".
    La Sapienza, the executive bodies said, "rejects the idea that the boycott of international scientific collaboration, the renunciation of the freedom of teaching and research, and the denial of the associated responsibilities of each individual researcher can promote peace and respect for human dignity".
    The La Sapienza bodies recalled the universalist and free character of scientific research, ading that the university expresses "sorrow and horror at the military escalation" in the Middle East in the wake of Iran's first direct attack on Israel and the ongoing plight of civilians in Gaza after Tel Aviv's unrelenting retaliation for the horrific October 7 Hamas attacks.
    Two female students chained themselves to the university rectorate in the latest in a string of anti-Israeli protests earlier Tuesday.
    Students protesting outside the rectorate continued to call for rector Antonella Polimeni to come out and address them and there were moments of tension when they tried to break through a police cordon around the building.
    "Polimeni come down," they demanded.
    They also shouted "murderers!". (ANSA).