TUNIS, Tunisia

Hundreds of students protested in central Paris on Thursday to denounce France and the president’s “complicity” in the ongoing massacre in the Gaza Strip.

A crowd gathered in Pantheon Square amid President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Sorbonne University to deliver an address about Europe, ahead of EU elections in June.

The protest was initially planned for Sorbonne Square but law enforcement rejected permission for the gathering and repressed the crowd, according to Anadolu.

“Israel assassin, Macron accomplice”, “Gaza, Gaza, Sorbonne is with you”, “From Paris to Gaza, resistance, resistance”, protesters chanted, with Palestinian flags in their hands.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara