"Zionist, Terrorist’: French professor driven out of class by pro-Palestinian protesters 

A French geographer was forced to abandon his lecture last Tuesday after being confronted by a group of 20 masked and hooded pro-Palestinian protesters who called him a "Zionist" and a "terrorist."

Fabrice Balanche, a specialist in Middle Eastern geography, was speaking on Euro-Mediterranean agreements at Lyon-2 University when the incident occurred. Speaking to Le Point on Friday, Balanche said the demonstrators barged into the amphitheater mid-lecture, shouting slogans and waving signs.

"I was giving a lecture in an amphitheater in front of about fifty students when a group of about twenty people entered, chanting, 'Racists, Zionists, you're the terrorists,' and brandishing a sign saying, 'For a free Palestine, no to ethnic cleansing,'" Balanche told Le Point. "They were masked, wearing caps and hoods."

The protesters reportedly surrounded the lectern and hurled insults at him. "It was violent, physical, even if there were no blows," Balanche said. "Some brandished their phones, to be able to film any possible slip-up on my part. But I left the premises calmly, which disconcerted them."

Though the identity of the protesters remains unknown, the activist group "Lyon-2 Autonome" claimed responsibility via Instagram. "I went to look: this account compiles eight pages about me, which are worthy of the antisemitic propaganda of the Third Reich," Balanche said. According to the group, the protest was in response to what they called “Balanche’s unacceptable positions on Palestine and Syria,” and demanded that he be removed from his teaching post.

The Syria reference appears tied to Balanche's 2016 meeting with then-Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a visit with French parliamentarians.

In response to the incident, over 30 prominent French academics published a letter in Le Point on Saturday expressing support for Balanche. They defended his academic credentials and condemned the protest, urging the university to identify and take disciplinary action against those involved.

The letter stated: "We affirm our support for Fabrice Balanche, whose expertise on the Middle East and particularly on Syria is incontestable," and called on the leadership of Lyon-2 University to exclude the protesters "if indeed they are [students of the university]."