A group of Jewish students prevented Holocaust-denier Bernard Notin from resuming his lectures this week at a university in the southeastern French city of Lyon.
Notin, an economist, had been suspended from teaching at the university for three years, following a 1989 article in which he denied the existence of gas chambers in Nazi death camps.
He was to go back to lecturing last Saturday. But the decision infuriated professors and students, who said Notin’s teaching would be a blemish on all French universities. The decision was also contested by human rights and anti-racist groups.
On Saturday morning, when Notin was to deliver his lecture at Lyon III University, a group of some 50 people, led by the Union of Jewish Students, unfurled a banner showing a yellow star and a list of Nazi death camps. The group barred Notin from entering the classroom.
The school’s administration decided to cancel the lecture in order to prevent further disturbances. No decision has been taken yet about the future of Notin’s teaching.
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