Police have moved in to clear dozens of protesters who had camped out in a courtyard at Sorbonne University in Paris to protest against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, Reuters reports quoting a student.

“We have every reason, like in Yale, in Columbia, in Sciences Po … to condemn what we can see is happening,” the student, who only gave his name as Leonard, said at another rally outside the gates of the Sorbonne.

The university, one of the world’s oldest, closed its buildings for the day during the peaceful protests. Students chanted ‘Free Palestine’ and urged the institution to condemn Israel.

Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot who heads the hard-left LFI group of lawmakers in the National Assembly, urged supporters on social media to join the Sorbonne protests.