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!".
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